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THE DRAMATIC STORY 
OF OLD GLORY 



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THE COLOR-BEARERS. 

(Bronze Memorial Seventy-Ninth Pennsylvania Infantry, Chickamauga.) 



THE DRAMATIC STORY 
OF OLD GLORY 

BY 

SAMUEL ABBOTT 

MttliraiRtt, AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION; 

SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 

ETC. 

FOREWORD BY 

JAMES M. BECK 




NEW YORK 
BONI AND LIVERIGHT 

1919 






Copyright, 1919, 
Bt BONI & LIVERIGHT. Inc. 



©CI.A525405 

MAY -9 (gig 



'X " \ 






TO THE MEMORY OP 
MY FATHER 

SAMUEL WARREN ABBOTT 

WHO GAVE ME, WHEN A BOY, 
A BLOOD-STAINED FRAGMENT OF 
A STARS AND STRIPES OF '63 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I "Run Up Above Them All" 1 

II The Forerunners of the Stars and Stripes 5 

III The Grand Union Flag of 1776 ... 12 

IV Last Days of the Grand Union Flag . . 21 

V Benjamin Franklin and the Stars and 

Stripes 27 

VI The Betsy Ross Tradition \3& 

VII Old Glory Floats Over a Field of Battle 40 

VIII The Flag and the Soldier of the Revolu- 
tion ... 48 

IX A Few Flag Problems 54 

X The Stars and Stripes on the Sea ... 63 

XI The Stars and Stripes and Paul Jones . 67 

XII The Flag and the Poets of the Revolu- 
tion 72 

XIII France Salutes the Stars and Stripes . 76 

XIV The Flag at Valley Forge 80 

XV Old Glory Crosses the Alleghanies . . 84 

XVI The Flag Sinks into the Sea Unconquered 88 

XVII Stars and Stripes, Union Jack and Fleur- 

de-Lis (S3j 

XVIII Flag Episodes of 1781-1783 

vii 



viii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XIX The Stars and Stripes Goes Around 

the World 105 

XX The Flag Supplants the Tricolor 

Over Louisiana . . „ 110 

XXI Old Glory Goes Overland to the Pa- 
cific 114 

XXII The Flag Floats Over An African 

Fortress 121 

XXIII The Stars and Stripes Seeks the 

Source of the Mississippi .... 129 

XXIV Discord Among the Three Tricolors . 139 

XXV The Stars and Stripes Raised Over a 

Log Schoolhouse 145 

XXVI The Flag on the Sea in the War of 

1812 147 

XXVII The Flag Finds Victory in Defeat . 155 

XXVIII The Flag on Land in the War of 1812 161 

XXIX The Flag Assumes Permanent Form . 167 

XXX "Old Glory" 172 

XXXI Two Women, the Flag and the Book . 174 

XXXII Old Glory Seeks the Ends of the 

World 178 

XXXIII The Flag Flies Over the Halls of 

Montezuma 185 

XXXIV The Flag Goes Down the River Jor- 

dan to the Dead Sea 189 

XXXV Stars and Stripes at Fort Sumter . 194 
XXXVI The Flag Goes to the Front ... 205 



CONTENTS ix 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXXVII Old Glory's Devoted Followers . . 213 

XXXVIII The Immortal Color-Bearers . . . 222 

XXXIX The Flag Comes Home 240 

XL The Stars and Stripes Goes to the 

Heart of Africa 244 

XLI Old Glory at Samoa 247 

XLII The Flag in the War with Spain . 250 

XLIII Old Glory at the Top of the World . 254 

XLIV Territorial Acquisitions Under the 

Flag 256 

XLV The Stars and Stripes and the World 

War 260 

XLVI The Flag at the Front in France . 265 

XLVII Concord Among the Tricolors . . . 279 

XLVIII Patriotism and the Flag 281 

XLIX Old Glory and the Schoolhouse . . 292 






FACING 
PAGE 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Color-Bearers Frontispiece 

The Grand Union Flag at Boston 10^ 

Stars and Stripes and Fleur-de-Lis at Yorktown, 1781 . 94 

The Peacock Flag in the Arctic Regions 182 

The Lynch Expedition on the River Belus .... 192 

Independence Day in Paris 260 

The Stars and Stripes reaches Coblenz and the Rhine . 274 

An Old Glory Made in Secret by the Frenchwomen of 

Metz . 278 X 



FOREWORD 

IF "good wine needs no bush" and a "good play needs 
no epilogue," similarly a good book needs no fore- 
word. This restraining reflection naturally suggests 
itself to one who is asked to write a foreword for 
another man's book. 

Mr. Abbott has done a real service in bring- 
ing together all available knowledge with reference to 
the American Flag. 

The events of the last four years have demon- 
strated the vital necessity of reviving the spirit of Amer- 
icanism. Thoughtful Americans sadly realize that our 
nation in the last fifty years has, in the matter of im- 
migration, swallowed far more than it has been able 
to assimilate. It is suffering from racial indigestion. 
This led Colonel Roosevelt, in his forceful and original 
way, to suggest that America had become a "polyglot 
boarding-house," and in the earlier stages of the world 
conflict, it did seem to many that America was a con- 
geries of peoples and, as such, apparently lacking in the 
spirit of -national consciousness and patriotic unity, 
which generally characterizes more homogeneous na- 
tions. The event proved that these misgivings were 
exaggerated and that America, when summoned to a 
great duty, did not lack unity of spirit. The call to 
arms did much to weld the United States into an effi- 
cient unity, and, as this result is one of the greatest 



viii FOREWORD 

advantages which America has gained from the war, 
it is eminently desirable that full advantage be taken 
of the changed psychology of the American people to 
realize more fully that sense of national unity without 
which America could never completely realize its des- 
tiny as one of the "master states of the world." 

As the Cross is the symbol of the Christian religion, 
so the Flag is the most concrete evidence of national 
unity. Other nations may find the outward manifesta- 
tion of their unity in the person of a monarch; but, in 
this country, despite the immense power of the Chief 
Magistrate, his tenure is too fleeting to make him the 
symbol of national unity. Moreover, his function as 
the leader of the party of the day would make it im- 
possible for him to occupy the peculiar relation to the 
State which a hereditary monarch, who is above party 
politics and who has little real power, enjoys in con- 
stitutional monarchies. 

The Flag, therefore, is the most effective emblem of 
national unity. 

There is need for the inculcation of such spirit of 
respect; for it has been frequently noted in the great 
public parades of the last four years in our large cities, 
that young and old have too often failed to respect the 
Flag when it passes. An old veteran of the Civil War 
once told the writer with indignation how he had re- 
buked a crowd of young men who had shown such lack 
of respect when the Flag was borne aloft in the streets 
of New York. 

We should begin with teaching our children the his- 
tory of the Flag; for it is not easy to arouse their in- 
terest and enthusiasm if they are only taught that the 



FOREWORD ix 

Flag stands for one hundred millions of people com- 
posed of many races, classes, creeds and parties. The 
appeal must be addressed to the imagination of men, 
especially of the youth of the land. This explains the 
undying popularity and also the special utility of our 
national song: 'The Star Spangled Banner." It is 
connected with a thrilling incident when, in one of the 
darkest hours of the Republic, when its fortunes were 
at their lowest ebb since the days of Valley Forge, a 
little band of Americans held out against a superior 
power. The poet caught the spirit of the occasion and 
found his inspiration in the fact that, over the smoke of 
battle, the Flag "was still there." 

Mr. Abbott has, therefore, done a public service in 
narrating in an interesting way the history of the Amer- 
ican Flag, and it is to be hoped, not merely because it is 
a readable book, but because it should be a potent 
weapon for a quickened patriotism, that the book will 
have a wide circulation and that, through its interesting 
pages, thousands of Americans may better know their 
country and its Flag. 

JAMES M. BECK. 

New York, March 30, 1919. 



THE DRAMATIC STORY 
OF OLD GLORY 



THE DRAMATIC STORY OF 
OLD GLORY 



"Run Up Above Them All" 

THIS book is concerned wholly with the history 
of the Flag of the United States from the days 
of its existence as the national ensign of an infant 
State confined to a narrow fringe of sea-board backed 
by a rampart of hills, to the hours of a mighty People 
whose gates are on two oceans and whose Will for 
Liberty has been impressed upon the world. The 
chronicle of our Flag from 1777 to 1917 dealt with 
a record that exemplified a Nation content to obey a 
political maxim of its first President, maintaining a 
proud remoteness from international troubles beyond 
the field of its hemisphere. But the Stars and Stripes 
of 1917 to 1918 was, and is, a living thing thrilled 
through all its threads with nerves of sympathy for 
peoples tyrannically oppressed. It could not droop 
on its staff when every wind from oversea came laden 
with the weeping of women and children and the can- 
non-roar of lines entrenched for endangered Liberty. 

Over the very waters that ebb and flow above the 
shattered Lusitania sailed Paul Jones in 1 778, flaunt- 
ing before the eyes of Europe a Flag made by women 



2 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

and girls of the young Republic of the United States. 
On a night in 1918, in a little Scottish hut, inspired 
women made an Old Glory from a design tattooed on 
the arm of a sailor, that the men of the Tuscania might 
go to their graves under their national symbol. In 
the darkness that shrouded that hut were ghostly mem- 
ories of the same heroic Jones as he sailed the Ranger 
to meet the Drake off a Scottish headland, the Red, 
White and Blue of his ensign glimmering against a 
hostile coast. 

The Flag has followed an old sea-trail in its journey 
across the Atlantic to take a stand at the apex of the 
wedge of tricolors thrust into the heart of Kingship. 
From now on we, as Americans awake to the meaning 
of our heritage, can never refuse to follow the Stars 
and Stripes into any field of the globe that demands 
the instant appearance of an unquestioned sign of Lib- 
erty. And so, this book, to be complete, is to follow, 
step by step through a trail of dramatic and romantic 
incidents, the thrilling story of our Flag from the days 
of its birth in a quiet street of old Philadelphia down 
to the hours of its triumph in the cannon-roar of the 
highway of the trenches in France. 

The American Flag has called forth a number of 
books on its history. Geo. Henry Preble's "History 
of the Flag of the United States of America," which 
first appeared in 1872, is still the authoritative work 
in the field, though many of its conclusions require 
revision in the light of recently acquired knowledge. 
Peleg D. Harrison's "The Stars and Stripes and Other 
American Flags," published in 1906, may be ranked 



"RUN UP ABOVE THEM ALL" 3 

second as a carefully prepared history of Old Glory. 
The National Geographic Society issued in 1917 an 
excellent handbook on the Flag, giving much of its his- 
tory, and there are at least eight or ten other books that 
cover the story of Old Glory, all of them presenting 
practically the same historical matter, with little devi- 
ation into paths of new and important research. 

It is curious that, while the record of our Flag is 
one of thrilling, dramatic episodes, no writer has 
grasped the idea of a book that would give these epi- 
sodes in their true light, not exaggerated, and linked 
together in a running narrative. All predecessors in 
this important field have either written books contain- 
ing disconnected series of salient related events, or pre- 
pared booklets juvenile in atmosphere. Yet there is 
a Story of Old Glory that moves onward majestically 
and through a chain of associated episodes. To move 
in current with these episodes, has been the plan of 
the author of this history. 

The reader will find matter in "The Dramatic Story 
of Old Glory" that has not hitherto been given in any 
history of the Flag. The explanation of TrumbulPs 
errors in his famous paintings; the complete account 
and the significance, of the raising of Old Glory over 
Fort Stanwix; the proof of the Flag's being unfurled 
over the camp of the Continental Army on the eve of 
the battle of the Brandy wine; the interesting theory 
as to Benjamin Franklin's being the originator of the 
Stars and Stripes; the grandly romantic drama of the 
Flag through the Civil War; and the story of Old 
Glory at the front in France at the close of the late 
war; all this is new and important material. 



4 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

Every school-house has, or should have, a Stars and 
Stripes over it. This history has been written with the 
school-house and the community in view. By making 
use of the Table of Flag-Topics at the end of the book, 
a teacher, or a leader in community work, will be able 
to correlate certain great events in the history of the 
Nation and of the Flag, with school-room work in 
American History or with patriotic and civic exercises. 
As a handbook in Americanization, "The Dramatic 
Story of Old Glory" has a field of distinct service. 

The story of Old Glory is not wholly one of war. 
Practically all other histories of the Flag err in an 
overemphasis of the Flag as an emblem of battle. 
The splendid stories of humane work under its folds, 
and of the extension of knowledge of the globe through 
discovery under its lead, are given in this volume in 
adequate detail. 

The sole aim has been to give Americans, old and 
young, in "The Dramatic Story of Old Glory," the 
thrilling, inspiring history of their Flag, in a manner 
that should create a nation-wide reverence for it as 
a symbol of patriotism. To-day it fulfills Whitman's 
prophecy written fifty years ago: 

"O hasten, flag of man, 
O with sure and steady step, 
Passing highest flags of kings, 
Walk supreme to the heavens, mighty symbol ; 
Run up above them all, 
Flag of stars, thick-sprinkled bunting." 

If we are to maintain it on high, a world-sign of 
Democracy, we must know intimately the story of its 
growth to power and dominion. 



II 

The Forerunners of the Stars and Stripes 

THE Stars and Stripes had many forerunners on 
American soil, banners that were local in their 
significances. If one were able to place one point of 
a gigantic pair of compasses on Pennsylvania, the true 
keystone Colony and State, lying with six of the orig- 
inal historic thirteen to the North and six to the South, 
he would be in a position to diagram the real drama 
of the inception of Old Glory. For, by extending the 
other point until it touches the heart of Maine and then 
swinging it to the South, still pivoting on Philadel- 
phia, until it rests on the Carolinas, he will reach the 
three historic fields of as many historic flags, each a 
tribal or a national symbol. We say "tribal," for 
the Pine Tree Flag that undoubtedly went with Ar- 
nold and Morgan into the snows of a Maine winter, 
on that daring march to Quebec in 1775,. was the sign 
of New England at war. And the Palmetto Flag of 
Fort Moultrie and the heroism of Sergeant Jasper, 
was an emblem of the Southern tier of Colonies in 
arms. The Stars and Stripes, in perfect form, sprang 
into being at Philadelphia, the medial city of the old 
Atlantic line of cities and towns, the home of the 
Declaration of Independence. There were other flags 
in those stirring days, called into life by the ardor of 

5 



6 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

zealous patriots seeking a sign under which to rally 
and to fight. But we leave it to other historians and 
other pages to record the stories of such banners as 
the Bedford, Westmoreland, Pulaski and Eutaw flags. 

We will now take up the story of the flags that were 
actually displayed in the camp of the Continental 
Army around Boston, six months after the battle of 
Bunker Hill. It is the morning of January l, 1776. 
We are on Prospect Hill to the northwest of Boston, 
with an army of almost 16,000 muskets, beleaguering 
Howe and his British grenadiers in the old Puritan 
town. Lexington and Concord, with their skirmishes, 
in which the Bedford flag figured, are already down 
in the type of history. Bunker Hill has been fought, 
to give heart to a raw militia and a sad lesson to certain 
famous regiments of King George the Third. 

We are not sure if any American flag was carried 
into action on Bunker Hill. John Trumbull, in his 
painting, "The Death of Warren at the Battle of 
Bunker's Hill," shows two flags in his picturing of the 
crucial moment of the struggle; a Pine Tree Flag, 
which may have been on the hill, but probably was 
not there, and a regulation British ensign, which un-* 
doubtedly was present. In a later page of this book, 
will appear an explanation of the reason for doubting 
Trumbull's accuracy in regard to flags. 

There is to-day, however, in Chester Cathedral, Eng- 
land, a fragment of a blue battle-flag which, it is 
claimed, was captured from Americans at Bunker Hill. 
If you ever visit Chester Cathedral, the verger will 
point to a British flag hanging on the wall of the 
nave, and tell you that it was borne up the fire-swept 



THE FORERUNNERS 7 

slope of Bunker Hill by one of the King's regiments. 
This flag has one other glorious memory. In its folds 
was wrapped the body of the young Wolfe after his 
death a victor at Quebec in 1759. 

But to go back to that first day of January, 1776. 
To our east the Charles river glides by to Boston 
Harbor where, in 1775, a Pine Tree Flag floated over 
a floating battery, the first American ensign to go 
above a fighting ship, if so that battery may be termed. 
Near us, coming in from the west, is the old "Post 
Road" from New York and Philadelphia, over which 
tramped with Washington, to this siege, the Colonial 
troops. Fanning describes them, in his memoirs, as a 
motley line of uncouth, undisciplined men, carrying 
their flint-locks at all conceivable angles. It is on rec- 
ord that an escort of the Philadelphia Light Horse ac- 
companied the Commander-in-Chief as far as New 
York, on this march. Their banner deserves a descrip- 
tion in these pages. It is of bright yellow silk forty 
inches long and thirty-four inches wide. The canton, 
or upper corner next to the staff, where the stars will 
later appear in the Stars and Stripes, is twelve and 
a half inches in length and nine and a half inches in 
breadth. It is made up of thirteen alternating blue 
and silver stripes. The center of this flag is adorned 
with a blue shield with a gold edge. A horse's head 
forms the crest; and this rather heraldic center is sup- 
ported on one hand by an American Indian, and on 
the other by an angel. We wonder what Ben Franklin 
thinks of this combination of angel and Indian. 

We will now walk through the long line of trenches 
that gird Boston on the north, the west and the 



8 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

south, and visit men from the fringe of Colonies from 
New Hampshire to Virginia and beyond. These Co- 
lonial forces have flags emblematic of colonial variety 
and modes of life. We note the crimson silk flag of 
the Hanover Battalion from Lancaster County, Penn- 
sylvania, with its figure of a frontier rifleman, gun 
in hand, beneath the motto, "Liberty or Death." 
Connecticut men are here with standards that distin- 
guish each regiment, made in solid colors ; yellow, blue, 
scarlet, crimson, white, azure, blue again, and then 
orange. Their Colony motto is "Qui transtulit sus- 
tinet," meaning that God, who transferred men of 
Massachusetts Bay to Windsor, Wethersfield and 
Hartford, to become the founders of a great Common- 
wealth, will uphold them. This motto appears on 
some of their flags. 

We wander on through the camp, and are greeted 
by the predominant Pine Tree Flag of Massachusetts, 
with its words, "An Appeal to Heaven" ; by the white 
banner of New York, with a black beaver stitched to 
its center; by the Rhode Island white flag centered 
with a blue anchor with the word, "Hope," and most 
significant in its blue canton with thirteen white stars. 
If we look further, we may see the Rattlesnake Flag 
of Virginia and the Carolinas. As to-day is the first 
of January, 1776, we have fresh in mind the reorga- 
nization of the Continental Army commenced this 
morning. The Rifle Battalion has been made the First 
Regiment of that Army, and its flag is described by a 
soldier as follows : "Our standard is to be a deep green 
ground, the device a tiger partly enclosed by toils, 
attempting the pass defended by a hunter armed with 



THE FORERUNNERS 9 

a spear (in white) ; on crimson field the motto 'Do- 
mari nolo !' (I refuse to be subjugated)." 

Such is the array of flags under which the Conti- 
nental Army at the siege of Boston has been guarding 
lines that run over hills, valleys and streams, in a 
semicircle of anxious vigilance. There is great need 
of a more real unity of purpose, of a deeper sense of 
the obligation of the soldier to his cause. "Can we 
have a standard, a flag that embodies in itself the idea 
of our cooperation as thirteen distinct political units 
warring with a single purpose 4 ? As yet, there is little 
or no desire to break away from our mother country, 
Great Britain. It is appropriate that this flag should 
symbolize our adherence to our common resolution to 
stand to the death for certain inalienable rights and 
privileges. It should also represent our loyalty to the 
nobler elements of England's Constitution. It must 
also express our own union in thirteen Colonies that 
realize in themselves, in their aloofness from Europe 
and in their instinctive gift of cohesion, a seed of Em- 
pire that is individual." 

And so, as a natural result of a desire to achieve an 
Army that is to be one under a single standard, the 
"Grand Union Flag" is about to be raised over the 
trenches on Prospect Hill, this chill morning of the 
first of January, 1776. The men are falling into line, 
muffled in homespun, some of them wearing the warm 
caps of the frontier riflemen, made of the skins of 
animals. Musket barrels have been polished. Accou- 
trements have been made neat. The squat cannon, 
thrust through openings in the trenches, have been 
loaded. Suddenly the men look to the crest of the 



io THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

hill where, accompanied by his Staff and mounted on 
his horse, George Washington appears at the base of 
a tall pole, a staff cut from a nearby forest. Near 
him stands a little group of soldiers, one of them hold- 
ing a flag whose stripes of red and white ripple from 
his arms in the strong wind. There is a low word of 
command. The new standard goes quivering, flutter- 
ing and tugging at its halliards, to the top of the staff. 
A wild cheer sweeps along the line of the Continental 
Army of America. Cannon and muskets blaze and 
bellow. Caps go whirling into the air. 

Washington said, in a letter to Col. Joseph Reed, 
his military secretary, written January 4, 1776, "On 
the day which gave being to the new army — we hoisted 
the Union flag in compliment to the United Colonies." 

What is this Grand Union Flag? How is it com- 
posed? In the canton are the crosses of St. George 
and St. Andrew, taken, with their blue field, straight 
from the "meteor flag" of old England. But the 
greater part of this new flag is contained in the thir- 
teen alternate stripes of red and white, symbolic of 
the thirteen leagued Colonies that stretch from New 
Hampshire to Georgia. In years to come after this 
January 1, 1776, historians will quibble over the ori- 
gin of, or the inspiration that prompted, the thirteen 
stripes. Some of them will point to the striped flag 
of the East India Company, frequently seen in Ameri- 
can waters. Others will produce the flag of the Phila- 
delphia Light Horse, with its thirteen stripes of blue 
and silver in the canton. What matters it who sug- 
gested the design when Washington and his officers 



THE FORERUNNERS n 

conferred at headquarters? A flag with a meaning has 
been fashioned. 

From this snow-swathed hill near Boston, as this 
flag comes rippling down at sunset, one can see the 
shadowy dusk of evening brooding over hills and val- 
leys and rivers. Throughout the coming night, will 
blaze the eternal stars that are to give superb beauty 
to the stripes of red and white. The crimson glow of 
sunset rests on the hill. It trembles on the white ridges 
of the snow. With its last faint flare, the evening 
star appears. Nature gives premonition of the great 
world emblem of Liberty yet to come forth. 



Ill 

The Grand Union Flag of 1776 

THE history of the Grand Union Flag from Janu- 
ary, 1776, to June, 1777, is one of no little mys- 
tery. There are but four episodes of the Revolution 
during these eighteen months that stand forth as pre- 
senting this flag figuring in historic scenes. One of 
them is on land, two are on the sea, and one is on a 
lake. There appears to have been some confusion in 
the minds of historians and painters of this year and 
a half in our history, as to the use of the Grand Union 
Flag. John Trumbull, whose painting, "The Death 
of Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill," we have 
mentioned, was in the camp at Boston in 1775-76, at- 
tached to Washington's Staff. He should have known 
if the Grand Union Flag was carried into action dur- 
ing the campaign around New York and, later, through 
those swift and dramatic struggles at Trenton and 
Princeton. But Trumbull, as he confessed, sought to 
perpetuate the faces of the chief actors in the drama 
of the Revolution, and had little concern for absolute 
fidelity in painting his backgrounds. His "Bunker 
Hill" and his "Declaration of Independence" are val- 
uable only as groupings of portraits. They are of 
little worth as presentations of the events as they must 
have occurred. 

12 



THE GRAND UNION FLAG OF 1776 13 

In Trumbull's painting, "The Battle of Princeton," 
we have the Stars and Stripes prominently displayed, 
although, as the artist knew, it was not adopted by 
Congress as the national Flag until nearly six months 
after the date of the battle. He was one of a group of 
men who frequently included the Stars and Stripes in 
their word-accounts or paintings of events that hap- 
pened while the Grand Union Flag was the standard 
of the Continental Army, before the Stars and Stripes 
was ever thought of. 

The only excuse for Trumbull's peculiar anticipa- 
tion of an historical truth, lies in his expressed wish 
to depict men who were the champions of Liberty. He 
placed them in groups that often defied the facts of 
history, and accompanied them with certain signs and 
symbols of the period. The Pine Tree Flag in his 
"Bunker Hill," and the captured British drum and 
flags in his "Declaration of Independence," together 
with his admitting the Stars and Stripes into his 
"Princeton," are evidences of his carelessness. They 
are permissible only under the excuse of his passionate 
desire to hand over to posterity the faces and forms 
of the men who gave us our country. 

We take this opportunity to explain certain errors 
made by other painters of the Revolution. The Stars 
and Stripes is prominent in at least two well-known 
paintings. It was the German Leutze who made the 
crowning mistakes in his celebrated "Washington 
Crossing the Delaware," a painting which, with Wil- 
lard's "The Spirit of '76," has become classic. The 
former of these two paintings fairly bristles with in- 
accuracies. It is enough, for the second, to state that 



14 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

the Flag revealed behind the three satisfactory figures 
in the foreground is the Flag of '77 and not the Grand 
Union Flag of '76; yet the combination of boy, men 
and Flag is plausible, as Americans regard their Flag, 
and properly, as the living symbol of the spirit of the 
Declaration of Independence and our definite march 
toward freedom. 

Leutze, painting his picture on the banks of a Ger- 
man river, where the cakes of floating ice gave him 
his base of composition, worked in a mist of faulty 
conception. George Washington was an athlete, but 
it is doubtful if he could have stood in the prow of a 
small boat in the heart of a howling storm that, ac- 
cording to the records, threatened to throw men and 
horses into the Delaware. The boat in this painting 
is not the boat of the time and the occasion. The 
costumes are not those of the Continental Army of 
1776. The faces of the men are German and, 'tis a 
horror to confess it, the countenance of the soldier 
holding the Flag is said to be that of Frederick the 
Great. The Stars and Stripes, on that wild night of 
high adventure, was still to be designed in a room in 
Philadelphia, thirty miles away. 

It seems proper to make these corrections here, as 
they naturally precede our stories of the Grand Union 
Flag itself. In a way, they serve to accentuate the 
lesson of a persistent error in putting down in the 
black of type and the colors of the brush, a number of 
curious misconceptions as to the true places of the 
Grand Union Flag and the Stars and Stripes in history. 

We are, at this stage in our book, on the threshold 
of an era that puzzles and exasperates many a student 



THE GRAND UNION FLAG OF 1776 15 

of the Flag. It is a pleasure to be able to state, with 
full confidence, that we have come upon certain records 
of the Revolution, private journals, even sermons and 
addresses, that serve to straighten out what has been 
a rather crooked trail of investigation. 

In March, 1776, Howe and his grenadiers left Bos- 
ton, never to return. A detachment of the Continental 
Army marched through the streets of the city, follow- 
ing a Grand Union Flag borne by Ensign Richards. 
An historian of the United States, who wrote nearly 
one hundred years ago, said: "As the rearguard of 
the enemy were leaving the city, Washington entered 
it on the other side, with colours, now striped with 
thirteen lists, floating proudly over his army, drums 
beating and all the forms of victory and triumph." 
It is of interest to note here that as the well-equipped, 
splendidly uniformed regulars of stubborn George III, 
officered by men who openly confessed a weakness 
for the American cause, went saiUng down Boston Har- 
bor, they passed the Castle where, in 1791, an English 
ship was to fire the first British salute in honor of the 
Stars and Stripes. A more detailed account of this 
salute will be found in a later page of this history. 

Among the men who marched into Boston under the 
Grand Union Flag were frontier riflemen who, on hear- 
ing of Lexington and Concord almost a year before, 
came through to the camp of the Continental Army 
well-nigh at a dog-trot. With the Rhode Island troops 
rode Greene, the blacksmith who had studied military 
tactics at his forge. Later, he was to cross swords with 
Cornwallis, Rawdon and Tarleton in the Carolinas. 
Near him was his friend Henry Knox, the big, burly 



16 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

Boston bookseller who, during the past winter, had 
dragged the captured cannon of Ticonderoga behind 
eighty yoke of oxen, all the way from the Hudson to 
the Charles, through the snow-mounded passes of the 
Berkshires at Sheffield, and over the last stretch of the 
old "Post Road," to plant them on Dorchester Heights 
and discomfort Howe. As he rode by, Tory Mather 
Byles hurled at him one of his awful puns, and re- 
ceived a rapid verbal thrust in return. Impetuous 
Putnam was there, with his fellow soldier from Con- 
necticut, brave, faithful Knowlton, beloved of Wash- 
ington, who was to fall at White Plains. Behind the 
red and white stripes of the Grand Union Flag, on 
that eventful March 17, 1776, were men who were 
to rally beneath that greater, more perfect Flag to 
come, the Stars and Stripes, and go down with it into 
history as its creators and intrepid defenders. 

Near the Old South Church, a mother and her little 
son may have stood. Abigail, wife of John Adams, 
could have come into town with the boy John Quincy 
Adams, to witness the occupation by Washington's 
army. On June 17, 1775, as she tells us in her letters, 
from a hill in their home village they had watched the 
smoke rolling up from Bunker Hill to the north. In 
the decades to come, this boy, then in his ninth year, 
was to be linked in history with the son of a Virginia 
carpenter and mason, James Monroe, at that moment, 
in his eighteenth year, busied with his books at college 
in Virginia. They were to be the two Americans who 
would father the Monroe Doctrine and warn the Im- 
perial States of Europe that the Stars and Stripes 
would not consent to the planting of any Old World 



a 
o 

o 

•— i 
o 

> 

H 

W 
O 

w 

O 
2 







THE GRAND UNION FLAG OF 1776 17 

flag on American soil without the permission of the 
United States. 

After the evacuation of Boston, the Grand Union 
Flag and its field of action shifted to New York, New 
Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Colonial fleet that 
sailed from Philadelphia early in 1776 went to sea 
under this flag. A letter written in Newburn, North 
Carolina, Feb. 9, 1776, contained the following: 

"By a gentleman from Philadelphia, we have received the 
pleasing account of the actual sailing from that place of the 
first American fleet that ever swelled their sails on the West- 
ern Ocean. 

"This fleet consists of five sail, fitted out from Philadel- 
phia, which are to be joined at the capes of Virginia by two 
more ships from Maryland, and is commanded by Admiral 
Hopkins, a most experienced and venerable captain. 

"They sailed from Philadelphia amidst the acclamations 
of thousands assembled on the joyful occasion, under the dis- 
play of a Union flag, with thirteen stripes in the field, em- 
blematical of the thirteen United Colonies." 



Esek Hopkins, of Rhode Island, sailed the fleet to 
the West Indies and captured New Providence. In ad- 
ditional verification of the statement that the Grand 
Union Flag flew at his main-truck, we quote from a 
letter from New Providence on May 13, 1776, by a 
resident: "The colors of the American fleet were 
striped under the Union, with thirteen strokes called 
the Union Colonies," or, in other words, to repeat our 
description, a flag of thirteen red and white stripes, 
with the Union in the canton — the upper corner next 
the staff when the flag is flying — showing the crosses 



18 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

of St. George and St. Andrew, representing England 
and Scotland. 

The dramatic story of the brig Nancy, of Wilming- 
ton, Delaware, enters at this point. She was com- 
manded by Captain Hugh Montgomery, whose daugh- 
ter Elizabeth published in 1851 a volume of reminis- 
cences in which she claimed that the flag of the Nancy 
was the Stars and Stripes, although the brig, after cruis- 
ing in West Indian waters, was blown up on June 29, 
1776, nearly a year before the adoption of the Stars 
and Stripes as the national Flag. This error shows us 
again how inaccuracies have crept into the story of the 
flags used during the years of the Revolution. 

Miss Montgomery amplified her claim with the ex- 
traordinary statement that, while at St. Thomas in 
the Spring of 1 776, news of the signing of the Declar- 
ation of Independence reached the officers of the 
Nancy, and was followed by an elaborate dinner ac- 
companied by a daring display of the American flag 
at masthead. This second claim spoiled the whole of 
her narrative as an historical document. There have 
been fugitive beliefs, in isolated quarters, that Betsy 
Ross made a few sample flags of the famous design 
of 1777, months before the time of the first appearance 
of Old Glory, even ahead of the date of the Resolu- 
tion in Congress that gave us our Flag. Miss Mont- 
gomery probably was deceived by a tradition current 
in her family, and undoubtedly was sincere in her claim 
that Thomas Mendenhall, of the Nancy's crew, stitched 
together a real Stars and Stripes from a design on paper 
or from an oral description given by one who had seen 
a premature edition of Old Glory. Of course, there 



THE GRAND UNION FLAG OF 1776 19 

is no basis in fact for Miss Montgomery's contention. 
What may have happened is to be contained in the 
suggestion that news of the adoption of the Grand 
Union Flag, with a hint at independence from Great 
Britain, traveled oversea to St. Thomas, and was 
magnified in the passage. It must have been a Grand 
Union Flag that young Mendenhall made. Even the 
whole story is so cloudy that it merits oblivion, were 
it not for its splendid finale in recorded history. 

After a stirring escape from the West Indies, the 
little Nancy pointed North for home waters. All went 
well until the Delaware shores were reached. There, 
surrounded by a British fleet, she was run ashore in an 
effort to save arms and ammunition. But the English 
were too active. A swarm of boats bearing armed 
seamen swooped down upon her. For almost twelve 
hours she fought them off. All her rigging and spars 
went by the board, shattered. Only the splintered 
shaft of one mast remained. Her defenders decided to 
blow her up, that the cargo might not be taken. A 
fuse was laid to the store of powder. The captain and 
four hands were the last to drop into a boat. And then 
one of the four men, well named John Hancock, 
chanced to glance up at the mast. He saw the Grand 
Union Flag streaming defiantly in the wind. Without 
a word, he leaped into the sea, swam to the Nancy, 
climbed the shivering mast, unfastened the flag, 
plunged into the waves with it, and swam ashore. 
"Why did you do it?" he was asked. "To save the 
beloved banner or perish in the attempt," was the 
terse yet sufficient reply. 

The picture of this man Hancock emerging from the 



20 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

surf with the dripping flag in his arms, stands out in 
sharp relief against the early and hazy history of the 
flags of the Revolution. For here, as with Sergeant 
Jasper at Fort Moultrie on the day before, June 28, 
1776, there was an instant recognition of the meaning 
of a flag as something much greater than merely being 
a pretty thing of colored cloth. "Beloved banner" 
were the words of a plain man, uttered nearly a full 
century before the day when the Flag became overnight 
a thrilling Voice calling to men and women to surren- 
der themselves in a passionate devotion of defense. 
They call across the gulf of the years to the men of 
1861 and 1918 who, wrapped in the eternal mantle 
of the Stars and Stripes, entered the black silence of 
Death without fear. 



IV 
Last Days of the Grand Union Flag 

CONGRESS was in session in Philadelphia when 
the Nancy went up in smoke and flame off Dela- 
ware. Within a week of the day when the humble 
sailor, John Hancock, dived into the sea with a flag 
of red and white stripes around his waist, another and 
more famous John Hancock took quill pen in hand and 
affixed his name to the immortal Declaration that her- 
alded a new Nation of thirteen States and foreshad- 
owed a new Flag of as many stripes and glorified with 
stars. 

Shortly after the Declaration of Independence had 
been signed in Philadelphia, the Continental Army, 
then engaged in the campaign around New York, was 
drawn up in line to hear the reading of the document. 
There is no official record of a display of the Grand 
Union Flag on this occasion, but it is reasonable to 
believe that it was unfurled over the lines of men. A 
number of illustrations of the event, by various ar- 
tists, include the flag among the essentials of their 
compositions. 

One historical inaccuracy persists in the majority 
of these paintings and drawings, an error that first 
found pictorial expression in the picturings of the Con- 
tinental Army as assembled at Cambridge in 1775, 

21 



22 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

when Washington assumed command. We refer to 
the habit of presenting an imposing array of bayonets 
at the muzzles of the rows of muskets. It is doubt- 
ful if one man in a hundred, in the Continental Army 
before Monmouth, had a bayonet for his flint-lock. It 
was one of Steuben's chief duties to inform the Ameri- 
can soldier at Valley Forge that a bayonet had a pur- 
pose more vital than the serving as a spit in the broil- 
ing of steak. In connection with the need of accuracy 
in regard to the history of the Flag, in this book, we 
shall strive to correct incidental mistakes such as this 
of the bayonet. 

One finds a more satisfactory treasury of sketches 
and paintings, even cartoons, that concern the story 
of our flags, in the contemporary records of the Amer- 
ican navy in the Revolution. From the very opening 
of the war, our little armed fleet flung out ensigns 
that were unmistakably of the Colonies and up-to- 
date. An English print of Esek Hopkins shows him 
with two flags in the background, one the Liberty and 
Pine Tree Flag of New England, with the words "An 
Appeal to Heaven" upon it, and the other the Rattle- 
snake Flag of the South, with the snake twisting over 
the thirteen stripes, but without the Union. Before 
going into action, a ship always displayed its national 
colors, and Englishmen had many opportunities to see 
and copy in sketches, very rarely to take by hand, the 
flags of the bold little American fleet. The designs 
of these flags became current property in Europe. 

It is with no small satisfaction that we turn to an 
illustration in which the Grand Union Flag figures, a 
mere water-color hastily executed, of the Royal Sav- 



LAST DAYS OF GRAND UNION FLAG 23 

age, one of the ships that took part in Arnold's re- 
markable fight on Lake Champlain in October, 1776. 
The record of the Grand Union Flag in this battle 
gives us one of the most dramatic flag-stories in Amer- 
ican history. 

In the Fall of 1776, England planned to split the 
Colonies by a drive down the line of Lake Champlain 
and the Hudson River. In anticipation of the threat- 
ened invasion, Benedict Arnold was placed in charge 
of the campaign of defense. He improvised and col- 
lected a flotilla of fifteen small ships and boats, armed 
with eighty-eight guns and manned by seven hundred 
men, all under the Grand Union Flag. His two lead- 
ing ships were the Royal Savage and the Congress. 
The menace of this flotilla compelled the British to 
prepare a fleet of twenty-five vessels, armed with 
eighty-nine guns, and carrying a force of six hundred 
and seventy picked men. 

On October 11, Arnold assembled his fleet behind 
Valcour Island, and was at once attacked by the Brit- 
ish flotilla. The fight was sharp and deadly. The 
Royal Savage, flying the Grand Union Flag, became 
unmanageable under fire and was run aground on the 
island. During the night, she was burned by the Brit- 
ish. Arnold, on the Congress, "pointed almost every 
gun with his own hands and cheered on his men." The 
flagship was struck seven times between wind and 
water, and twelve times below the water-line. On the 
Washington, Gen. Waterbury, who was in command, 
was the only officer left alive. The New York lost all 
her officers save Captain Lee. 

After nightfall one of the most daring escapes in 



24 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

American history was effected. One by one, with 
shaded lanterns in their sterns, the broken remnants 
of the little Continental fleet sailed right through the 
British lines, unmolested. At dawn the astonished 
Englishmen saw the masts of the American ships at 
the upper reaches of Lake Champlain and, aided by a 
favoring wind, came up with Arnold and resumed the 
action. Again there was desperate fighting and a reck- 
less defense, ending with the running of the wrecks 
of the American fleet ashore and setting them afire with 
colors flying. The finish was a sacrifice, with Arnold's 
riflemen, posted behind rocks and trees, protecting with 
their deadly fire the Grand Union Flag until "all was 
consumed." These men, bent on keeping the flag 
from falling into the hands of the enemy, stood by it 
to the last minute. What a shame that Arnold, who 
had led them so ably and heroically, should later prove 
a traitor to his colors ! 

There are historians who assert that the fight at 
Valcour Island saved the Colonies from destruction. 
It put an abrupt stop to British attempts at invasion 
until reinforcements could arrive and a new plan be 
evolved. Gardner W. Allen, in his "A Naval History 
of the American Revolution," has this illuminating 
passage: "By the time the British had taken Crown 
Point the season was far advanced. This fact and the 
presence of a formidable American force deterred them 
from at once attempting the capture of Ticonderoga. 
They withdrew to Canada for the winter, and their 
purpose of occupying the valley of the Hudson and 
separating New England from the other states, was 
put off. They returned the next year under Gen. Bur- 



LAST DAYS OF GRAND UNION FLAG 25 

goyne, but the opportunity had passed. Howe had 
gone to Philadelphia, and Burgoyne, unsupported from 
the south, was forced to surrender his army at Sara- 
toga. The French alliance followed as a direct con- 
sequence. The American naval supremacy on Lake 
Champlain in the summer of 1776 had compelled the 
British to spend precious time in building a fleet strong 
enough to overcome it. The American defeat which 
followed was a victory. The obstruction to the Brit- 
ish advance and a year's delay saved the American 
cause from almost certain ruin. It thus came about 
through a singular instance of the irony of fate, not 
altogether pleasant to contemplate, that we owe the 
salvation of our country at a critical juncture to one 
of the blackest traitors in history." 

With the ashes of a Grand Union Flag falling into 
the waters of Lake Champlain, the curtain is rung 
down on the story of the immediate predecessor of the 
Stars and Stripes. Three stray evidences of its active 
part in the Revolution close our history of its career. 
The water-color sketch of the Royal Savage, found 
among the papers of Gen. Schuyler, shows it stream- 
ing in the wind over the stern of the ship. Ambrose 
Searle, Confidential Secretary of Admiral Lord Howe 
of the British Navy, in a letter written July 25, 1776, 
spoke of the Grand Union Flag at New York as fol- 
lows: "They have set up their standard in the fort 
upon the southern end of the town. Their colours are 
thirteen stripes of red and white, alternately, with the 
English Union cantoned in the corner." The third 
piece of evidence is a strip of Carolina paper currency 
of the time of the Revolution, with this flag printed 



26 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

upon it. Save for these three fragments and the his- 
toric episodes already described, we have scarcely a 
shred of evidence that supports any statement of the 
Grand Union Flag's appearance again as an emblem 
of revolt. Its brief life was a romantic one. The men 
who fought and died under it gave warrant that the 
true Flag of the united Colonies knit together in a defi- 
nite bond of independent States would not lack heroic 
defenders. 



Benjamin Franklin and the Stars and Stripes 

WE are confronted with a most perplexing and 
alluring problem when we attempt to discover 
the sources of inspiration for the Stars and Stripes as 
we see it to-day. Historians who approach the sub- 
ject with confidence, come to conclusions that differ. 
Some of them, of the school of Parson Weems, are em- 
phatic in their belief that the coat-of-arms of the 
Washington family, with its stars and horizontal 
stripes, or bars, gave the idea of the design for the 
Flag. This is a pretty conceit, that meets with a sharp 
rebuff in the personality of the Father of his Country. 
The man who fled precipitately from the room in In- 
dependence Hall when John Adams proposed him as 
Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, would 
have made impossible any effort to perpetuate his fam- 
ily crest in his country's emblem. Washington said, 
much to the point, "We take the stars from Heaven, 
the red from our mother country, separating it by 
white stripes, thus showing that we have separated 
from her, and the white stripes shall go down to pos- 
terity representing liberty." 

It has been suggested, and the suggestion is seconded 
by one or two investigators, that the Grand Union 
Flag may have been formed by placing six white 

27 



28 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

strips of cloth across the red ensign of Great Britain. 
This hint at the possible method of fashioning this 
flag late in 1775, is strengthened by Washington's 
poetic analysis of Old Glory, especially in his words, 
"the red from our mother country, separating it by 
white stripes." Two logical steps in procedure read- 
ily come to mind. First, the spreading a red British 
ensign, with its crosses in the Union, on a table and 
laying six strips of white cloth across the red field, to 
obtain the thirteen stripes, seven red and six white. 
The result gives us the Grand Union Flag. 

Now go over the months to the Spring of 1777, and 
imagine a Committee in Philadelphia determined on 
eliminating every trace of Great Britain and George 
the Third from the Flag. As Endicott, in old Massa- 
chusetts days, cut the cross from the English ensign, 
deeming it an obnoxious ecclesiastical symbol, so, in 
a milder mood, that apochryphal Committee — History 
has hidden them behind her curtain — took shears in 
hand and cut the Union from the Grand Union Flag, 
with its crosses of St. George and St. Andrew. 

Then, quite naturally, arose the question, "What 
can we place in that significant corner of the Flag? 
What device will typify the new United States?" 
Some writers found in the constellation Lyra, the 
Harp, which signifies harmony, the inspiration that 
led the Committee to the stars. One of them, if our 
memory is not askew, gives John Adams credit for 
the suggestion. There is a measure of ingenuity in this 
guess, for Lyra is near the zenith in June, the month of 
the adoption of the Stars and Stripes. 

Peleg D. Harrison contributes this paragraph on 



FRANKLIN AND THE FLAG 29 

the source of the stars : "The idea of the adoption of 
the stars as a device for a national standard may have 
originated in Boston, as the earliest known suggestion 
of a star for an American ensign appeared in the Mass- 
achusetts Spy of March 10, 1774, more than three 
years prior to the establishment of the Stars and 
Stripes. In a song written for the anniversary of the 
Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770, the author gives 
his poetic prophecy in these words: 

'A ray of bright glory now beams from afar, 

The American ensign now sparkles a star 

Which shall shortly flame wide through the skies.' " 

If we had been in the composing room of the Massa- 
chusetts Spy during the first ten days of March, 1774, 
those three lines would not have gotten by us without 
a comma after the word "sparkles." The meaning of 
the poet is plain. He used the word "star" as a meta- 
phor; and it gave him a plausible rhyme for "afar." 
Yet, when all's been said, we confess to a wonderment 
as to what that rhymester was driving at, what he had 
in mind, when he wrote those three lines a year and 
more before Lexington and Concord. What was his 
"American ensign"? 

These theories do not seem at all sound. We are 
about to exploit a new one, add another little chapter 
to the story of the quest for the originator of the star- 
hint. In "The Jumel Mansion," by William Henry 
Shelton, is found this paragraph : "A curious piece of 
chintz, made in France at this early period, its pattern 
evidently inspired by Franklin, shows Washington 



30 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

driving a pair of leopards to a chariot, in which Amer- 
ica, an Indian maiden, is seated behind him, holding 
a shield on which is the date 1776. In front of the 
leopards are two Indians, one carrying a flag bearing 
the Franklin device of the snake divided into thirteen 
parts, and the other a flag of thirteen stripes. Pass- 
ing in the opposite direction, beyond the chariot and 
turning to fall in behind it, is the Philadelphia First 
Troop, at its head a flag of thirteen stripes alongside 
the French standard showing the fleur-de-lis. Above 
this group and completing the pattern is Franklin him- 
self, with the Goddess of Liberty, following the thir- 
teen stars on a shield borne by Mercury up to Fame, 
who is blowing two trumpets at the entrance to the 
temple." 

We go back over twenty years. In 1754, Benjamin 
Franklin, in his effort to impress on the Colonies the 
need of concerted action against the forays of the 
French and Indians, published in the Pennsylvania 
Gazette an engraving representing a rattlesnake curved 
and severed into eight parts. The head was marked 
"N. E.," for New England, and six of the remaining 
sections bore the initials, "N. Y.," "N. J.," "P.," 
"M.," "V." and "N. C." The tail stood for South 
Carolina and Georgia. The versatile Philadelphian, 
according to Paul Leicester Ford, in his "The Many 
Sided Franklin," "made diagrams and sketches to il- 
lustrate and explain his writings. . . . Long after his 
retirement from active printing, the Continental Con- 
gress secured his aid in the designs of the currency. 
. . . During the Stamp Act times he made a symboli- 
cal print which had considerable vogue. While serv- 



FRANKLIN AND THE FLAG 31 

ing in the Continental Congress he was appointed a 
member of the committee to prepare devices for a 
great seal." 

In Franklin's own writings we find that, during the 
early wars of the eighteenth century, the women of 
Philadelphia, "by subscription among themselves, pro- 
vided silk colors which they presented to the compa- 
nies, painted devices and mottoes, which I supplied." 
There is in existence to-day a picture of a flag which 
Franklin designed in the years before the Revolution. 

There is a tradition, not accepted by historians as 
authentic, that Congress appointed a committee in 
1775 to g° to tne camp at Boston and consult with 
Washington in an attempt to decide upon a flag that 
would meet the demands of the hour. On Sept. 30, 
1775, Congress did select Benjamin Franklin, Benja- 
min Harrison and Thomas Lynch, as their represen- 
tatives, and this committee reached Cambridge near 
the middle of October. They remained for conference 
on war matters for nearly a week, and then returned 
to Philadelphia. In their report to Congress, no men- 
tion was made of a flag for the army. 

We hold that Franklin was the man, when the per- 
sonnel of the Continental Congress of 1776-77 is con- 
sidered, to be most greatly interested in the movement 
toward having a flag that should represent the United 
States and their purpose. The incontrovertible facts 
of his making "a symbolical print" during the Stamp 
Act troubles, his service as a member of the Congres- 
sional Committee appointed to "prepare devices for a 
great seal," and his supplying "devices and mottoes" 
in connection with the making of early battle-flags, 



32 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

to the women of Philadelphia, are enough to set him 
apart as the man best equipped for the task of invent- 
ing a flag interstate in its meaning. 

We believe that the committee, of which Franklin 
was the head, that conferred with Washington in the 
camp near Boston in October, 1775, did discuss a new 
flag, and did, at the time, decide upon the Grand Union 
Flag as an opportune standard. And we go beyond 
that statement of flag-creed, to the much more im- 
portant expression of faith, that Benjamin Franklin 
was the creator, or one of the creators, of the Stars 
and Stripes. If one of a group, he was undoubtedly 
the dominating figure. 

Now see how beautifully this bit of Parisian chintz 
fits into our argument. Franklin arrived in Paris, on 
his mission to France, on Dec. 22, 1776. Sydney 
George Fisher reminds us that "the French always be- 
lieved that Franklin was the originator of the Revo- 
lution." We know he carried Paris by storm, that a 
perfect volume of elaborate prints was published re- 
vealing him as a being on the slopes of Olympus, just 
a few feet below the immortal Gods. Anything and 
everything that had to do with Franklin's life as phi- 
losopher, scientist, writer and statesman, was trans- 
lated into the graphic formula of the copper-plate. 
Franklin drawing lightning from Heaven; Franklin 
rescuing America from destruction; Franklin hobnob- 
bing with Jove; there was much illuminated apothe- 
osis of the shrewd old Philadelphian. 

Franklin invented the rattlesnake, cut into sections, 
as a device typifying the Colonies sadly needing co- 
hesion during the French and Indian wars. The Rat- 



FRANKLIN AND THE FLAG 33 

tlesnake Flag appears on this piece of chintz. Frank- 
lin knew the composition of the flag of the Philadel- 
phia Light Horse — it was from his home town — and 
could describe it to Frenchmen. He must have done 
so, or it never could have been included in this inter- 
esting design we are studying. Did he go a step be- 
yond that? Were the thirteen stripes and the thir- 
teen stars associated in his mind as the proper elements 
for a flag yet to be sewed together? Did he write 
to Philadelphia, to friends in Congress, telling them 
of his inspiration? 

We conclude that this extremely interesting bit of 
chintz with the date 1776 was made soon after Frank- 
lin arrived in Paris, late in December, 1776, or in the 
opening months of 1777. It was intended to extol him 
as the "originator of the Revolution," the man who 
wrested the thirteen Colonies from Great Britain. As 
he surely gave its designer the scheme of the Rattle- 
snake Flag and that of the flag of the Philadelphia 
Light Horse, he may have hinted at the thirteen stars 
and the thirteen stripes as appropriate parts to be com- 
bined in a flag soon to be a reality. 

Harrison, following Preble's lead, tells us in his 
history of the Stars and Stripes that the Grand Union 
Flag went across the Atlantic with Franklin. We 
quote a paragraph : "The Continental Union flag was 
first shown in European waters by the Reprisal^ Cap- 
tain Lambert Wickes. She sailed from Philadelphia, 
for France, in September, 1776, with Dr. Benjamin 
Franklin, who had recently been appointed United 
States minister at the court of France, on board as pas- 
senger. While on the trip across she took several 



34 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

prizes, which were disposed of in France, being the 
first English captured ships to be carried to France 
since the beginning of the war for American Independ- 
ence." 

So Franklin, on this voyage, had more than one 
graphic picture of the Union Jack of Great Britain 
fluttering against the sky near the Grand Union Flag 
of the United States. His mission to France was to 
impress Frenchmen with the full force of the fact that 
the Colonies had severed all links that had bound them 
to England. He must have recognized how utterly 
out of place were the British crosses of St. George and 
St. Andrew in the recognized American Flag that flew 
from the mast above him. He had designed flags in 
the years that had gone before. He may have seen 
in his mind's eye a vision of Old Glory when the stars 
of evening came out above the swaying topmasts of 
the Reprisal, 



VI 

The Betsy Ross Tradition 

BEFORE we emerge from the field of speculation 
as to the origin of the Stars and Stripes, we must 
get through the thicket of the Betsy Ross problem. 
This last difficulty is not an easy one to face, for the 
tradition of the making of our first complete national 
Flag in old Arch Street, Philadelphia, has become al- 
most a fetish with good Americans. There are count- 
less thousands of men and women in the United States 
who accept an historical narrative, especially if colored 
with a hue of romance, without a moment's investiga- 
tion into its merits as truth. The Betsy Ross story, 
first given to the public in 1870, almost a century after 
the event it is supposed to prove, has gone into book 
after book as solid truth. Like the legend of the boy 
George Washington and his hatchet, it is neat but sus- 
picious. 

Recently a perfectly sane man came into our office 
and, with the air of one who had a real message to 
unfold, told us that near his home in a city in West- 
ern Massachusetts lived a niece of Betsy Ross. The 
estimable woman, gifted with a keen memory, had a 
fund of anecdotes of the life of the real Betsy, and 
was accepted by her neighbors as a bona fide link with 
a wonderful Past. Betsy Ross was born in 1752, one 

35 



36 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

hundred and sixty-seven years ago. We handed our 
visitor a scrap of paper, on which was the result of a 
little example in subtraction in terms of years. "How 
old would your niece of Betsy Ross have to be, to have 
memories of the living Betsy Ross?" we inquired. He 
never had thought of that. Like many others, he had 
accepted as fact what a few minutes of analytical 
thought would have shown to be an impossibility. 

We are not on the verge of an effort to demolish 
the story of Betsy Ross and the making of the first 
Stars and Stripes. The weight of the evidence appears 
to be in favor of this tradition of the making of the 
original Old Glory. Were it not for the injudicious 
claims of certain members of the Ross family, claims 
utterly unnecessary and even dangerous to the life of 
an episode accepted as fact, though fragile, we should 
be inclined to set the whole matter down in this book 
verbatim, in accord with the evidence as presented 
by counsel for the defense. 

The story, in brief, is as follows: According to at 
least one historian, Betsy Ross made State colors for 
ships before the Flag-Resolution of Congress, of June 
14, 1777, determined the Stars and Stripes as the na- 
tional standard. She was engaged in flag-making for 
the Government after that date, and her daughter, Mrs. 
Clarissa Wilson, to whom we owe much of the accepted 
tradition, succeeded her in business and supplied ar- 
senals, navy yards and the mercantile marine with flags 
for years. 

The main elements of the story are in the fragments 
we now present. Betsy Ross was the widow of John 
Ross who died from the effects of injuries received 



THE BETSY ROSS TRADITION 37 

while guarding cannon balls and military stores which 
had been made by his uncle, George Ross, a signer of 
the Declaration of Independence. She had embroi- 
dered shirt ruffles for Washington in the days before 
his appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, 
for she was famous for her work with the needle. It 
was natural that Washington, with her uncle, George 
Ross, and Robert Morris should go to her for the 
making of a sample flag. These three men are sup- 
posed to have formed the committee, authorized by 
Congress or self-appointed, to "design a suitable flag 
for the nation." 

It is a pretty picture. We can imagine the three 
men bowing graciously to the young widow, then in 
her twenty-sixth year, and, after being seated, pre- 
senting, in the hands of Washington, a rough drawing 
of the proposed flag. The design shows stars with six 
points, to which Mistress Betsy objects. She folds a 
piece of paper and produces, with clips of her scissors, 
a perfect five-pointed star. Washington redraws the 
sketch, and the committee unanimously votes to give 
her the commission to make the first true American 
Flag. 

As George Washington was not in Philadelphia at 
any time during the first six months of 1777, it is a 
real problem to fit him into this picture. We are to 
find out, at once, how one man solves this problem 
by getting a Stars and Stripes made by Betsy Ross at 
some time in 1776, and thus making the great George 
a possible actor in the little scene. 

The claims of Mr. William J. Canby, a grandson 
of Betsy Ross, assert that she made flags of the Stars 



38 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

and Stripes pattern as early as June, 1776, when 
Washington chanced to be in Philadelphia, and that 
they were in common use soon after the Declaration of 
Independence was signed. Mr. Canby was eleven years 
old when Betsy Ross died in 1836, yet he waited until 
1857 before crystallizing in writing her relations of 
reminiscences of events associated with the Flag. That 
gap of twenty-one years before the committal of his- 
torical data to the stern rigidity of printed words, in- 
jures the value of Mr. Canby's interesting contribution 
to the literature of the Flag. 

Another argument against the possibility of the 
Stars and Stripes being in use as early as June, 1776, 
is found in the words of John Paul Jones, "The flag 
and I are twins," uttered when he was told that his 
appointment to the command of the Ranger was of the 
same date as the Resolution in Congress, of June 14, 
1777, that adopted the Stars and Stripes as the na- 
tional emblem. Paul Jones loathed the Rattlesnake 
Flag, frequently displayed on ships of our little navy 
of 1776-77, and was precisely the man to seize upon 
and run to a masthead such a glorious emblem as Old 
Glory, were it in existence prior to June, 1777. You 
may scrutinize all the records of the Revolution, Con- 
gressional files, daily papers, prints, documents in 
European museums and libraries; you will not find a 
scrap of evidence the size of a ten-cent piece in sup- 
port of the Canby theory. This claim is a distinct 
drag on the progress of the Betsy Ross legend, for it 
stresses an argument based on hearsay, oral transmis- 
sion, when the truth we seek is that lodged in the writ- 
ten or printed memorials of the period. 



THE BETSY ROSS TRADITION 39 

On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed 
the following Resolution : 

Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States of 
America be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that 
the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing 
a New Constellation. 

With that date and that Resolution, began the his- 
tory of the Stars and Stripes as a living symbol of 
Nationality. There will be a few events associated 
with the early records of the Flag, as we are to give 
them, that will require careful attention, as they are 
not presented clearly in other histories of the Flag, 
or have been neglected. But we are out of the period 
of extreme uncertainty that prevailed during the years 
of the Continental standards of 1775 and 1776. 



VII 

Old Glory Floats Over a Field of Battle 

THE affair at Fort Stanwix in the summer of 
1777 gives us a singularly dramatic, even ro- 
mantic, initial chapter in our history of the real Stars 
and Stripes. A vivid flame of patriotism sprang spon- 
taneously into glow in the midst of that garrison in 
central New York, then the heart of the Northwest- 
ern wilderness. It was fitting that the contributing 
elements in the brief story of August 6, 1777, should 
have been loyalty to country and heroic courage in the 
face of seemingly inevitable disaster. The Stars and 
Stripes literally blossomed forth suddenly on that day, 
an unheralded sign of independence and a will to fight 
to the sternest extremity. 

Our main source of authority for the presence of 
the Flag at Stanwix is "A Narrative of the Military 
Actions of Colonel Marinus Willett," published in 
1831. Secondary sources are, a journal of the siege 
kept by a private soldier, a letter written by Captain 
Abraham Swartwout, and at least one passage from 
histories published during the first half of the nine- 
teenth century. It is necessary, in covering a short 
ground of preface, to state that in March, 1777, Wil- 
lett led in a quick attack on the British at Peekskill, 
a bayonet charge that drove the red-coats to their ships 

40 



OLD GLORY OVER BATTLEFIELD 41 

on the Hudson. In the booty captured were "a few 
blankets and cloaks." Now note the following: "A 
blue cloak, taken here," as Willett tells us, "served 
afterwards to make the blue stripes of the flag which 
we hoisted during the siege of Fort Stanwix." The 
"blue stripes" is a slip of memory. We are to find the 
correction in a later page of the Colonel's narrative. 
There is reason to believe that, in distributing the 
booty, this blue cloak was given to Captain Abraham 
Swartwout. 

The narrative of the first appearance of our Flag 
in battle demands consideration of the whole chain of 
events connected with the investment and relief of 
Fort Stanwix. We shall use Colonel Willed:' s journal 
freely. As he reminds us in a sentence to follow, this 
fort controlled the entire valley of the Mohawk. Situ- 
ated in a wilderness, described by British writers of the 
period as a network of ravines and dense forests and 
thickets, it was the only barrier in the way of invasion 
from Canada by way of Oswego and the river-valley. 
Stanwix once in the hands of a hostile force approach- 
ing from the northwest to effect a union with Bur- 
goyne coming down from the direct north to strike 
the upper reaches of the Hudson at Albany, the result 
meant the annihilation of the loyal militia of central 
New York, the rallying of thousands of Indians under 
the standard of Great Britain, and the probable over- 
throw of the Continental Army guarding the river- 
approach to New York City. Stanwix, held and main- 
tained as a base for American operations, would al- 
ways be a thorn in the flank of major British opera- 
tions. 



42 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY: 

In the spring of 1777, a few hundred men were sent 
to Fort Stanwix, under Colonel Peter Gansevoortc 
When warnings of a possible advance by the British 
from Canada by way of Oswego began to come down 
from New York, it was decided to reenforce the little 
garrison and put the fort in condition to endure a 
siege. No mistake was made in selecting Col. Marinus 
Willett as the man to lead what appeared to be almost 
a forlorn hope. Now for Willett's journal: "Upon 
Col. Willett's arrival, the fort was in a weak and un- 
tenable state. This fort, built where the village of 
Rome now stands, was considered to be at that early 
period the principal key to the whole of the Mohawk 
country. It had been built by Gen. Stanwix, in the 
year 1758. It was a square fort, with four bastions. 
— But since the conclusion of the French war the fort 
had fallen into decay ; the ditch was filled up, the pick- 
ets had rotted and fallen down." Willett at once dis- 
charged the engineer who had been in charge of repairs, 
and set to work to strengthen the fort. 

During July the first premonitions of the coming 
storm began to appear. "Scouts of Indians, belonging 
to the enemy, had been frequently discovered in the vi- 
cinity of the fort." On July 3, three little girls were 
outside the gates, picking blackberries. Two of them 
were killed by the Indians, and the third, who escaped, 
"had been shot through the shoulder; the wound 
proved slight, and she soon recovered. 

"On the last day of July, advice was received that 
a number of batteaux loaded with ammunition and 
provisions were on their way under a guard of two hun- 
dred men. — These boats arrived about 5 o'clock P. M,, 



OLD GLORY OVER BATTLEFIELD 43 

on the second day of August. — The fort had never 
been supplied with a flag. The necessity of having 
one had, upon the arrival of the enemy, taxed the in- 
vention of the garrison a little; and a decent one was 
soon contrived. The white stripes were cut out of 
ammunition shirts; the blue out of the camlet cloak 
taken from the enemy at Peekskill; while the red 
stripes were made of different pieces of stuff procured 
from one and another of the garrison." 

Permit us to interpolate a motion-picture of what 
probably happened in the little story of the making 
of that Flag. One account tells us that the two hun- 
dred men who came up the Mohawk in boats brought 
with them a printed description of the Stars and 
Stripes as adopted by the Resolution of Congress of 
June 14, 1777. This description had appeared in a 
Pennsylvania paper. If ever a body of men needed 
a banner under which to fight to the death, it was that 
small garrison miles removed from military aid, cut 
off, surrounded by British regulars, Hessians and 
Indians commanded by St. Leger and Sir John John- 
son. We find the audacious courage of Gansevoort 
and Willett, and their men, voiced in the simple words 
"The fort had never been supplied with a flag," and 
in their determination to have one. One little acre of 
Americanism would show its colors and defy an enemy 
present in superior force to do his worst. So they 
taxed their wits and scoured the fort for material from 
which to fashion an impromptu American Flag, the first 
Stars and Stripes to face a foe. Some woman's fingers, 
or perhaps those of the little girl with the bullet-scar 
in her shoulder, stitched together that crude Flag, with 



44 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

the sunburned, lithe Continental officers and men look- 
ing on, in sunlight or by the flare of flickering candles. 
And Abraham Swartwout gave up his beautiful blue 
British cloak to furnish the field for the stars. For- 
tunately for us, to verify our pointing at Abraham as 
the man, we have to-day his letter of August 29, 1778, 
in which he reminds Col. Gansevoort that he had been 
promised eight yards of broadcloth, to make good "my 
blue cloak which was used for colors at Fort Schuyler," 
for so Stanwix was called in '78. Captain Abraham 
Swartwout must have been as thrifty as he was pa- 
triotic. 

To return to the narrative from Willett' s journal. 
By the morning of August 4, the Indians had increased 
to one thousand in number and had completely en- 
circled the fort. They commenced "a brisk rifle-fire" 
accompanied by "terrible yelling, which was continued 
at intervals the greater part of the night." To meet 
this force, greatly augmented by the British and Hes- 
sians on hand, there were in Stanwix the five hundred 
and fifty soldiers of Gansevoort and Willett, reenf orced 
by Lieut. Col. Mellon's two hundred men of Colonel 
Weston's Massachusetts regiment of the Continental 
line, who had brought in with them the word-picture 
of the Stars and Stripes. 

To the East of Stanwix, there was assembling a band 
of men under lion-hearted Gen. Herkimer, determined 
on marching to the relief of the fort. A messenger 
from Herkimer got through the British lines during 
the morning of August 6, with a letter bearing the date 
August 5. Willett says, "Arrangements were imme- 
diately made to effect a diversion in favour of Gen- 



OLD GLORY OVER BATTLEFIELD 45 

eral Herkimer by a sally upon the enemy's camp. Ac- 
cordingly two hundred men were ordered on parade for 
this purpose, and placed by Col. Gansevoort under the 
command of Col. Willett; but a heavy shower of rain 
coming up at that moment delayed the sally near an 
hour. 

"Gen. Herkimer, however, without waiting for the 
signal from the fort, which was to notify him that his 
express had been received, and that a sally had been 
made, advanced prematurely." You know the sequel 
in that terrific fight of the ambuscade at Oriskany, 
where men fought hand-to-hand, with a howling tem- 
pest of rain, thunder and lightning, swooping down 
upon them. Herkimer was ahead of the time set for 
his advance, and Gansevoort and Willett had delayed 
their signal gun, which was to announce the sally from 
the fort. 

"As to the sally," continues Willett, "it was com- 
pletely successful. As soon as the rain ceased, Col. 
Willett lost not a moment in sallying forth from the 
gate of the fort" with his two hundred men, one hun- 
dred from New York and one hundred from Massa- 
chusetts. "The camp of Sir John Johnson, and that 
of the Indians, were taken." Seven wagons, stored 
in the fort with horses, were three times loaded with 
plunder. "Among other articles, they found five Brit- 
ish flags. — Upon his return, the five flags, taken from 
the enemy, were hoisted on the flag staff under the Con- 
tinental flag; when all the troops in the garrison, hav- 
ing mounted the parapets, gave as three hearty cheers 
as, perhaps, were ever given by the same number of 



46 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

With those cheering men beneath the Old Glory of 
Stanwix, stood a boy, Robert Wilson. When Corn- 
wallis surrendered at Yorktown, Ensign Wilson, of 
Washington's army, was delegated to collect the cap- 
tured flags, eighteen of them German Hessian, and 
six of them British. In the four event-crowded years 
from 1777 to 1781, that boy witnessed the drama of 
the Stars and Stripes in the Revolution from that first 
Act set in a little fort in a wilderness, to the final Act 
at Yorktown when the curtain came down on the Red, 
White and Blue aligned in triumph with the White 
and Gold of France. There was much prophecy in 
those five British flags "hoisted on the flag staff under 
the Continental flag" at old Fort Stanwix. 

All Americans of to-day who love their Flag should 
never forget that picture seized from a vanished Past, 
the Stars and Stripes fluttering in defiance against a 
stormy sunset fringed with the dark deeps of a wild 
forest, with seven hundred men cheering and looking 
up at it from the parapets below. Two other forts, 
to figure in the Nation's history to come, were to voice 
the same brave, indomitable spirit: McHenry and 
Sumter. 

We close this chapter with three quotations. Ban- 
croft, in his "History of the United States," says 

"It was the first time that a captured banner had floated 
under the Stars and Stripes of the republic." 

A minor historian, writing early in the forties of the 
last century, said 

"Willett carried off many spoils, and raised a trophy under 
the American flag floating over the wooden fort." 



OLD GLORY OVER BATTLEFIELD 47 

The diary kept by William Colbraith, a soldier of 
Gansevoort's regiment, lately found in an old chest, 
corroborates Willett's narrative. Colbraith says, defi- 
nitely : 

"Aug. 3. Early this A.M., a Continental flag was made 
by the officers of Col. Gansevoort's regiment, was hoisted 
and a cannon, levelled at the enemy's camp, was fired on 
this occasion." — "Aug. 6. Four colours were also taken, and 
immediately hoisted on our flag staff under the Continental 
flag, as trophies of victory." 

And so we have our first big dramatic picture in the 
Story of Old Glory. The setting was admirable. The 
old Mohawk trail, of which Stanwix was then the west-, 
ern sentinel, was to become one of the highways that 
led to the West and the Flag's vast Empire of con- 
quest and settlement. All honor to the men who were, 
in 1777, the wardens of the gate under a Stars and 
Stripes made by their hands and defended with their 
lives. 



VIII 

The Flag and the Soldier of the Revolution 

WE have seen, in the story of the defense of Stan- 
wix, that the American soldier of the time of 
the Revolution had begun to comprehend the meaning 
of the new Republic. He saw in the Flag "over the 
corner of the fort nearest the enemy," something much 
greater than pieces of red, white and blue cloth s wed 
together. When Col. Willett, referring to this Flag, 
spoke of "the necessity of having one," he gave us the 
keynote to the courage and the Americanism of the 
men with him. Those regiments from New York and 
Massachusetts, that defied St. Leger and his superior 
force, knew that they were stationed at Stanwix not as 
representatives of two Colonies recently become States, 
but as a loyal part of the Continental Army of the 
United States of America. 

There are definite points in the orderly progress of 
a nation's growth that may be called nodes. At these 
points it is well to tie knots in the string of one's his- 
tory. In our imaginary thread we fasten a tag to the 
knot for August 6, 1777, and there is an Old Glory 
pictured on this tag. We hope to acquaint thousands 
of children with the story of Gansevoort and Willett 
and their seven hundred men, for, if there is a calendar 

48 



THE FLAG AND THE SOLDIER 49 

of great dates in the Story of the Flag, surely that day 
in the summer of 1777 must not be overlooked. 

We return to Stanwix. On the afternoon of Aug. 7, 
1777, the day following the sally, the English sent a 
white flag to the gate of the fort, and requested a con- 
ference. Once more we take up Willett's narrative. 
"Col. Butler, who commanded the Indians, with two 
other officers, were conducted blindfolded into the fort 
and received by Col. Gansevoort in his dining-room. 
The windows of the room were shut, and candles were 
lighted ; a table also was spread, covered with crackers, 
cheese and wine. Three chairs, placed at one end of 
the table, were occupied by Col. Butler and the two 
other officers, who had come with him ; at the other end 
Col. Gansevoort, Col. Mellon and Col. Willett were 
seated. Seats were also placed around the table for 
as many officers as could be accommodated, while the 
rest of the room was nearly filled with the other offi- 
cers of the garrison, indiscriminately ; it being desirable 
that the officers in general should be witnesses to all 
that might take place." 

A Major Ancrom, "with a very grave, stiff air and a 
countenance full of importance," rose and delivered 
himself of a pompous speech, in the course of which he 
said, "I am directed to remind the commandant that 
the defeat of Gen. Herkimer must deprive the garrison 
of all hopes of relief, especially as Gen. Burgoyne is 
now in Albany; so that, sooner or later, the fort must 
fall into our hands. — Should the present terms be re- 
jected, it will be out of the power of the Colonel to 
restrain the Indians, who are very numerous and much 
exasperated, not only from plundering the property, 



50 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

but destroying the lives of, probably, the greater part 
of the garrison." 

Major Ancrom lied when he said that Burgoyne was 
in Albany. But Gansevoort and Willett did not know 
that the British army of invasion was still many miles 
from the upper waters of the Hudson. What they 
did know was the temper of the Indians, who had lost 
many warriors and not a few chiefs in the fighting at 
Oriskany and around Stanwix. They realized that, 
in all probability, the surrender of the fort meant as 
many scalps carried off in fiendish triumph as there 
were men and women within the shelter of the para- 
pets. The splendid phase of their defense was their 
profound sense of the importance of the fort to the 
United States, their revealed feeling that it was Amer- 
ican soil under an American Flag, and that they were 
there to defend it to the last gasp of the last man. 

Gansevoort nodded to Willett. The latter rose 
from his chair and, "looking the important Major full 
in the face," replied, "You have made a long speech 
which, stript of all its superfluities, amounts to this, 
that you come from a British Colonel, to the com- 
mandant of this garrison, to tell him that if he does not 
deliver up the garrison into the hands of your Colonel, 
he will send his Indians to murder our women and 
children. We are doing our duty and this garrison 
is committed to our charge, and we will take care of 
it. After you get out of it, you may turn round to 
look at its outside, but never expect to come in again, 
unless you come a prisoner." The room rang with a 
volley of applause. 

The history of the siege and the relief of Fort Stan- 



THE FLAG AND THE SOLDIER 51 

wix finds place in few books. It is unknown in most 
schoolrooms in the United States where the nation's 
history is taught. We suspect that the reader will 
wish to share with us the story of the result of this 
heroic defense. The British, with their Hessian and 
Indian allies, settled down to starve the garrison into 
submission, and began to dig trenches that zigzagged 
toward the fort, preparatory to an assault. Something 
had to be done, and that quickly. At ten o'clock on 
the night of August 10, Willett and a Major Stock- 
well slipped from the gate and crawled through the 
British lines. When they reached the river, they 
crossed on a log, and were then enveloped in black 
darkness in a swampy wood. There is a quaint sim- 
plicity in Willett's narrative at this point: "Placing 
themselves against a large tree, they stood perfectly 
quiet several hours. At length, perceiving the morning 
star, they again set out." They actually got through 
the wilderness to General Schuyler, and had the satis- 
faction of witnessing Learned's Massachusetts Bri- 
gade, with the First New York Regiment, under way 
for Stanwix. 

England was not slow to recognize Willett's exploit. 
The British Annual Register for 1777 contained the 
following: "Col. Willett afterwards (after the sally) 
undertook, in company with another officer, a much 
more perilous- expedition. They passed by night 
through the besieger's works, and in contempt of the 
danger and cruelty of the savages, made their way for 
fifty miles through pathless woods and unexplored 
morasses, in order to raise the country and bring re- 



52 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

lief to the fort. Such an action demands the praise 
even of an enemy.' ' 

While Willett and Stockwell were in the deeps of 
the wilderness, the British sent into Stanwix another 
officer under a white flag, to demand its surrender. 
Gansevoort's reply was terse and intensely American: 
"It is my determined resolution, with the force under 
my command, to defend this fort to the last extrem- 
ity, in behalf of the United States, who have placed 
me here to defend it against all their enemies." 

On August 23, 1777, the vanguard of the little 
army of relief appeared. Colbraith's diary tells us 
that this force numbered "near one thousand men," 
and that there was "a discharge of all the cannon from 
the bastions, amounting in the whole to thirteen." 
Rather significant that volley from thirteen guns, in 
truth a national salute to the unconquered Old Glory 
that waved over the northeast bastion. But even the 
echoes reached no enemy. Word of the coming relief 
had filtered through to St. Leger's force and, one and 
all, they had decamped in haste. Once more a pas- 
sage from the British Annual Register for 1777: 
"Nothing could have been more untoward in the pres- 
ent condition of affairs, than the unfortunate issue of 
this expedition." 

Stanwix was a portent. Some chord of brotherhood 
as men partners in one Nation found its dominant in 
that Flag over "the corner nearest the enemy." Ganse- 
voort's resolution "to defend this fort to the last ex- 
tremity, in behalf of the United States," gives us all 
the text we require when we seek to ascertain the spirit 
of the American soldier at Stanwix. He was American 



THE FLAG AND THE SOLDIER 53 

to the core. He seiaed upon and made vivid the cen- 
tral idea of this Nation, — Independence resolutely- 
maintained beneath the Stars and Stripes, itself a per- 
fect figure of Democracy. 



IX 

A Few Flag Problems 

ON May 10, 1779, Richard Peters wrote a letter 
to General Washington from the War Office in 
Philadelphia. Here is the portion of this letter that 
interests us: 

"As to Colours we have refused them for Another Reason. 
The Baron Steuben mentioned when he was here that he would 
settle with your Excellency some Plan as to the Colours. 
It was intended that every Regiment should have two Colours 
— one the Standard of the United States which should be the 
same throughout the Army, and the other a Regimental 
Colours which vary according to the facings of the Regiments. 
But it is not yet settled what is the Standard of the United 
States. If your Excellency will therefore favor us with your 
Opinion on the Subject, we will report to Congress on the 
Subject and request them to establish a Standard, and so 
soon as this is done we will endeavor to get Materials and 
order a Number made sufficient for the Army." 

That letter was written in Philadelphia nearly two 
years after the Flag was adopted in June, 1777, and 
from a place within a few feet of the Hall of the 
adoption. The sentence, "But it is not yet settled 
what is the Standard of the United States," has stag- 
gered more than one student of the history of the Flag. 
One man does not attempt to explain it. Another 

54 



A FEW FLAG PROBLEMS 55 

gasps and stares at it, and then stammers out something 
about the vast ignorance of Peters. 

There is much comfort in the words, "one the Stand- 
ard of the United States which should be the same 
throughout the Army." We do not accept the expla- 
nation of men who are inclined to believe that the 
Flag-Resolution of June 14, 1777, since it was one 
with a group of four Resolutions all referring to the 
American Navy, standing second in the five, aimed 
at supplying a national ensign for the little American 
fleet and not one for the Continental Army. That is 
a pure dodging the problem. The Stars and Stripes 
had been appropriated by the Continental Army as its 
peculiar Flag, but there were sections of the territory 
of war where the Colonial standards still waved un- 
challenged in 1779; witness the flags of Savannah, 
Pulaski's Banner, and the Eutaw Flag of Col. William 
Washington's Horse. Richard Peters was right. There 
was not, in 1779, a general recognition of the Stars 
and Stripes as the only battle-flag for Americans from 
New Hampshire to Georgia. But his letter in no mea- 
sure disproves the statement that the heart of the Cause, 
the little group of officers and men of the Continental 
Army around George Washington, held allegiance to 
but one standard, the Stars and Stripes. 

Sergeant William Jasper and his flags of Fort Sul- 
livan, afterwards Fort Moultrie, and Savannah, come 
to mind as a good opening for a discussion of the con- 
fusion that clouds the records of the several Colonial 
and State battle-flags of the Revolution. This man 
figured in two stirring scenes that had flags for their 
motives. It was natural that in the first of the two, 



56 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

that of Fort Moultrie on June 28, 1776, the Palmetto 
Flag of the Carolinas should go through an experience 
that caused it to go down in history as famous. 

There is an interesting little side note to be brought 
in here. The American people, willing to be fooled 
in a good cause, recently accepted a calendar pub- 
lished by a prominent Insurance Company, on which 
Jasper appeared struggling up the redoubt at Moul- 
trie with a Stars and Stripes in his arms. The artist 
knew the facts and, in his original sketch, showed the 
Palmetto Flag. "We must have Old Glory, no mat- 
ter what the truth," said the officials of the Company; 
thus following in the trail of John Trumbull. 

Even the printed accounts of Jasper's heroism, given 
in histories, clash in their conclusions. In the manu- 
script, "Life of Brigadier General Peter Horry," oc- 
curs this story of this man and his flag at Moultrie: 
"Above my gun, on the rampart, was a large American 
flag hung on a very high mast, formerly of a ship ; the 
men-of-war directing their fire thereat, it was, from 
their shot so wounded as to fall, with the colors, over 
the fort. Sergeant Jasper of the Grenadiers leapt over 
the rampart, and deliberately walked the whole length 
of the fort, until he came to the colors on the extrem- 
ity of the left, when he cut the same from the mast, 
and called to me for a sponge staff, and with a thick 
cord tied on the colors and stuck the staff on the ram- 
part in the sand." 

Jasper was offered "a lieutenant's commission, but 
as he could neither read nor write, he modestly re- 
fused to accept it, saying T am not fit to keep officers' 
company, being only a Sergeant.' " 



A FEW FLAG PROBLEMS 57 

We now go on to Jasper's second and final act of 
daring under a flag. In the assault on Savannah, Oct. 
9, 1779, an attack as disastrous to the Americans and 
the French as was Bunker Hill to the British, two silk 
flags, one red and the other blue, made by the wife of 
Major Bernard Elliot, and presented by her to Moul- 
trie's Regiment, were carried into action beside the 
Lilies of France. William Gilmore Simms tells us, 
in his "The Life of Francis Marion," that one of them 
"was borne by Lieutenant Bush, supported by Sergeant 
Jasper; the other by Lieutenant Gray, supported by 
Sergeant McDonald. Bush being slightly wounded 
early in the action, delivered his standard to Jasper, 
for better security. Jasper a second time, and now 
fatally wounded, restored it to the former. But at the 
moment of taking it, Bush received a mortal wound. 
He fell into the ditch with his ensign under him, and 
it remained in possession of the enemy." 

After reading the above, written nearly eighty years 
ago by a man who had the facts at first hand, how are 
we to account for this circumstantial statement of a 
modern historian, "Jasper, wounded and dying as he 
was, seized the colors, and succeeded in saving them 
from falling into the hands of the British. He was 
carried to camp, and died soon after. Just before he 
expired, he said to Major Elliot, Tell Mrs. Elliot I 
lost my life supporting the colors she gave to our regi- 
ment.' " 

A Hessian officer, writing of the surrender of Bur- 
goyne's army at Saratoga, in 1777, said in his letter, 
in speaking of the American Army drawn up in line, 
"There were regular regiments, also, which for want 



58 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

of time and cloth, were not yet equipped in uniform. 
These had standards with various emblems and mot- 
toes." The Hessian officer was right. There were 
"standards with various emblems and mottoes." 
Horry says the flag of Fort Moultrie was "a large 
American flag," although we know it was a Palmetto 
Flag, blue with a white crescent moon in the corner 
where the canton usually appears and, as some au- 
thorities assert, having the word "Liberty" upon it in 
large letters. What were the flags of red and blue 
of the assault on Savannah? Were certain of the 
thirteen States in the habit of designating their own 
special standards as "American"? 

We believe that the Stars and Stripes was adopted 
in 1777, as the standard of the Continental Army, and 
that there were many minor banners carried into ac- 
tion by troops that fought in areas removed from the 
fields of campaign of that Continental Army under 
Washington. Col. William Washington followed a 
crimson damask flag made by the girl of his heart ; and 
this flag, still in existence, flew over the fields of the 
Cowpens and Eutaw. It is now known as the Eutaw 
Flag. Pulaski, who fell with Jasper on the slopes at 
Savannah, had for his particular flag the famous Pu- 
laski Banner, made for him by the Moravian nuns at 
Bethlehem, Pa. Longfellow's poem, "Hymn of the 
Moravian Nuns at the Consecration of Pulaski's 
Banner," was inspired by this flag, which is still in- 
tact. A flag taken by the Hessians at Long Island, 
on Aug. 27, 1776, was deep red in color, with the 
word "Liberty" upon it. An English print of the 
action of Oct. 28, 1776, shows the Americans bearing 



A FEW FLAG PROBLEMS 59 

a flag with a white field, "In which is a crossed sword 
and staff, the latter surmounted by a liberty cap ; above 
the design is Patrick Henry's motto, 'Liberty or 
Death.' " Jasper and his fellow color-bearers at Sa- 
vannah carried red and blue silk flags. Truly it is a 
case of "confusion worse confounded." 

There were two men in the group of Washington's 
generals who knew what flags meant, who must have 
been not a little perplexed at the multiplicity of Amer- 
ican banners. Steuben was one and Lafayette was the 
other. Richard Peters, in his letter of May 10, 1779, 
quoted at the opening of this chapter, referred to Steu- 
ben's purpose to settle with Washington "some plan 
as to the Colours." Lafayette was on the field at 
Brandywine, very much so in fact, as he was wounded 
during the battle. He must have been in the camp 
of the Continental Army on the night before the ac- 
tion. And now we have a ray of light. At twilight of 
Sept. 10, 1777, a few hours before the Brandywine, 
the Rev. Joab Trout preached a sermon "in the pres- 
ence of the American soldiery, General Washington, 
General Wayne, and the other officers." That sermon 
was found a few years ago, in manuscript form, arid 
we quote from it : "It is a solemn moment, brethren. 
Does not the solemn voice of nature seem to echo the 
sympathies of the hour? The flag of our country 
droops heavily from yonder staff." 

Here is proof, final, conclusive, that an American 
Flag flew over the camp of the Continental Army on 
the evening before Brandywine. No man would say, 
"The flag of our country," in September, 1777, and 
have a Grand Union Flag, or a Pine Tree Flag, or a 



60 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

Rattlesnake Flag, in full sight. And if the Flag was 
displayed on a staff within a few hours of battle, we 
may rest assured that it was not absent when its Army 
received the shock of the attack of Cornwallis. The 
boy Lafayette would have been one to see that Old 
Glory went under fire. 

Brandywine was followed, in a few weeks, by the 
overthrow of Burgoyne at Saratoga. George Canby, 
in his "The Evolution of the American Flag," says, 
"There seems no doubt that the flag was used at the 
surrender of Burgoyne, October 17, 1777, as Trum- 
bull's painting of the surrender shows an American 
Flag with the stars in a circle." 

This turning to Trumbull for proof of the presence 
of Old Glory at Princeton and Saratoga must be put 
an end to, and summarily. John Trumbull went to 
England in 1784 to study painting, and was a pupil 
of Benjamin West. He fell under the influence of the 
latter' s method of work. His "Bunker Hill," painted in 
West's studio, was modeled closely on West's "Death 
of Wolfe." Now we will see what English historians 
think of the "Death of Wolfe." Robert Wright, in 
his "Life of Wolfe," informs us that "Monckton, 
Barre, and other persons portrayed in the group around 
Wolfe were not on the spot. Monckton had been shot 
through the lung. Barre had been blinded, and Sur- 
geon Adair, who is represented in attendance, was then 
at Crown Point. West wished Gen. Murray to figure 
in the picture, but the honest Scot refused, saying, f No ! 
No! I was not by. I was leading the left.' West's 
notions of artistic truth did not go beyond dress." 

John Trumbull was completely under the spell of 



A FEW FLAG PROBLEMS 61 

Benjamin West's mode of composition. He ignored 
all the facts of the battle of Bunker Hill, in his paint- 
ing, and he knew very well what they were, in group- 
ing over a dozen prominent Englishmen and Ameri- 
cans in a small corner of the field, when they were in 
reality scattered over the ground of action. And he 
introduced the two flags to give a finishing touch. He 
makes a damaging confession, in the catalogue of his 
works in the Yale University Collection, when he says, 
of his later painting, "The Declaration of Independ- 
ence" : "The Artist also took the liberty of embellish- 
ing the background by suspending upon the wall mili- 
tary flags and trophies." We have good reason to 
fear that he "took the liberty of embellishing" his 
paintings, "The Battle of Princeton" and "The Sur- 
render of the British to the American Forces at Sara- 
toga," with the Stars and Stripes, although he knew 
that the Flag was not present on the former occasion. 
Of course, Trumbull's picture of Burgoyne's surren- 
der is not to be accepted as a proof that Old Glory was 
present at Saratoga. 

Alexander Anderson, who made the original wood- 
cuts for Weems' "General Washington," followed the 
lead of Trumbull. He surely knew the early history 
of the Stars and Stripes, for he was born in 1775, and 
his name is identified with one incident recorded later 
in this book. Yet Anderson, regarding the Flag as a 
symbol of the spirit of the Revolution, deliberately 
gave it a prominent place in his cut of the Battle of 
Bunker Hill. We are compelled to reject practically 
all paintings, sketches and wood-cuts that illustrate 
the Revolution, made by men of the period, as true 



62 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

presentations of the events portrayed. Their values 
are in their curious disregard of the truth, their at- 
tempts at symbolism, and their portraits of the leading 
men of the age. It is strange that almost all his- 
torians of the Flag go to Trumbull for their argument 
for the presence of the Stars and Stripes at Saratoga, 
and never consider his method of composition and his 
statements of purpose as given in his autobiography. 



The Stars and Stripes on the Sea 

WE are now to come out of the fog which veils 
so much of the story of Old Glory on land 
during the Revolution, into the clear sunlight of its 
life on the ocean. The story of our Navy of the Revo- 
lution is precise in its references to the Stars and 
Stripes. There were two events of the early months 
of 1778 that bring the Flag out in bold relief: one the 
capture of New Providence, and the other the fight 
between the Randolph and the Yarmouth. American 
privateers and small ships of war frequently swooped 
down on the English possessions to the southeast of 
Florida, and the Flag was not a stranger to the twist- 
ing channels of the network of Carib islands. Here, 
at last, we find dramatic evidence of the appearance 
of Old Glory in the midst of a romantic scenery, pitted 
against the Union Jack of Great Britain. 

Under cover of darkness, on the night of January 
27, 1778, Captain John P. Rathburne crept up to the 
island of New Providence in his brig, quite appro- 
priately named the Providence. This little vessel car- 
ried but twelve four-pounders, but was already famous 
as the first command of Paul Jones in 1776, the one 
in which he won a reputation for daring seamanship. 
When Rathburne had come close to the island, he an- 

63 



64 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

chored, left half his crew, twenty-five men, on board, 
and then went ashore with the rest in boats. Events 
followed in a rush. Thirty American prisoners, 
aroused from their sleep, were set free, and the entire 
force of but little over fifty men carried Fort Nassau 
by storm. 

At dawn the astonished inhabitants of the island, all 
good Englishmen, were alarmed at the sight of a 
strange Flag flying over Fort Nassau. To cap the cli- 
max of this audacious flaunting of a hostile ensign, 
Rathburne and his men appropriated all the ammuni- 
tion they could lay hands on, together with three hun- 
dred muskets, and then, in the broad daylight of the 
morning of the 28th, captured an armed vessel of 
sixteen guns, with five merchantmen, in the harbor. 

The situation suddenly became hot for the Stars 
and Stripes and its bold followers. On the 29th, at 
three P. M., five hundred men with artillery marched 
into sight. A messenger under a white flag called on 
Rathburne and ordered him to surrender the fort or be 
killed with all his men. Rathburne's reply was brief 
and emphatic. He nailed the Stars and Stripes to the 
flag-staff and told the messenger to report that he 
would hold Fort Nassau until not one of his men was 
left alive. 

Of course it was impossible to stay, beleaguered and 
cut off from all assistance. The guns of Fort Nassau 
were spiked, and the whole American force embarked 
and put to sea, carrying with them valuable munitions 
of war. Two of the prizes were burned, and the re- 
maining four were brought home in triumph to the 
United States. Rathburne, outnumbered ten to one, 



STARS AND STRIPES ON THE SEA 65 

held an enemy's fort for two days, and kept the Stars 
and Stripes flying over English soil for that period. 
No chronology of the Flag's history can omit this brief 
account of its floating at the top of a staff where for 
years the red ensign of Great Britain had streamed 
unchallenged. 

On March 7, 1778, "Nick" Biddle of Philadelphia, 
of whom it was said that "Liberty never had a more 
intrepid defender," was off the Barbadoes in the thir- 
ty-two-gun frigate Randolph, accompanied by four 
South Carolina cruisers. Late in the afternoon the 
English sixty- four-gun ship-of-the-line Yarmouth came 
in sight and bore down on the little fleet. Biddle, 
knowing that his cruisers would be battered to pieces 
by the guns of the Englishman, signaled them to make 
all sail and escape. The Yarmouth overhauled the 
Randolph and came up on the weather quarter. 
Biddle, with his thirty-two guns, deliberately accepted 
battle with a foeman of sixty-four guns. 

Captain Nicholas Vincent was in command of the 
Yarmouth. We have to go to his report, in the Brit- 
ish Records, for our account of the fight. The Yar- 
mouth hoisted her colors and bade the Randolph show 
her ensign. Biddle at once ran up the Stars and Stripes 
and poured a broadside into the Yarmouth. For nearly 
an hour the two ships sailed side by side, exchanging 
volleys. Then, with a roar, the Randolph blew up. 
Vincent says, "The two ships were so near each other 
at the time that many fragments of the wreck struck 
the Yarmouth, and among other things, an American 
ensign, rolled up, was blown upon her forecastle. This 
flag was not even singed." 



66 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

"Nick" Biddle carried a Stars and Stripes ready to 
run up to the masthead if the one already there was 
shot away. Captain Vincent recognized the daring of 
his adversary, and added this noble note to his report: 
"The temerity of Captain Biddle in thus engaging a 
ship so much superior to his own deserved a better 
fate." 

The Randolph went up in smoke and flame. It was 
symbolic of the American spirit of the Revolution, that 
her splendid Flag, Old Glory, should invade the deck 
of the British Yarmouth as a warning that fire and 
water can never destroy the soul of America. 



XI 

The Stars and Stripes and Paul Jones 

ON a clear, cold morning late in December, 1775, 
or early in January, 1776, Commodore Esek 
Hopkins, with his Staff officers, was rowed in a barge 
from the foot of Walnut Street, Philadelphia, to the 
flag-ship Alfred ', lying in the Delaware. After certain 
ceremonies, Lieut. John Paul Jones seized the end 
of the halliards and raised to the masthead a yellow 
silk flag with a rattlesnake, and possibly a pine-tree, 
upon it, and bearing the words "Don't tread on me." 

Paul Jones was also the first man to raise the Stars 
and Stripes to the masthead of an American ship of 
war. His record from 1777 to 1779 is the most drama- 
tic one in the long list of naval heroes that have made 
our Flag famous the world over; and the Flag seems 
to be the inspiration of every chapter, well-nigh of 
every page, of his remarkable story of daring and 
adventure. 

You will remember that on June 14, 1777, Congress 
passed the following Resolution: 

Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States of 
America be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the 
union be thirteen stars, white in a blue iield, representing A 
New Constellation. 

67 



68 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

Within a few minutes after that Resolution was 
passed, the following also went on record : 

Resolved, That Captain John Paul Jones be appointed to 
command the ship Ranger, 

When Paul Jones read those Resolutions, he is re- 
ported to have said tersely, "The Flag and I are twins." 
He loved it, he fought like a demon under it, he im- 
parted to his men a realization of its beauty and its 
meaning. 

That Paul Jones unfurled Old Glory on the Ranger 
at Portsmouth, N. H., in July or August, 1777, is cer- 
tain. We find the proof in his own journal, given in 
the third person: "Jones was appointed to com- 
mand the Ranger, on board of which he hoisted the 
national flag for the first time it was displayed on a 
man of war." There has been some controversy over 
minor elements of the event as recorded in tradition, 
and it is wise to be cautious in accepting the versions 
of a number of imaginative writers. The Ranger was 
being finished and equipped at Portsmouth. A few 
of the young ladies of the town knew the design of the 
new Flag and decided to make one for Paul Jones and 
his ship. As legend has it, very prettily, "Slices of 
their best silk gowns" went into the making of this 
Flag. When it was finished, Jones journeyed from 
Boston to Portsmouth, to receive and display it on the 
Ranger. 

That this significant event occurred on July 4, 1777, 
exactly one year after the signing of the Declaration 
of Independence, as some writers assert, is doubtful. 



STARS AND STRIPES— PAUL JONES 6g 

Three weeks was rather a short time, in those days, 
to get the description of the Flag from Philadelphia to 
Portsmouth and have the complete ensign ready for 
unfurling on July 4. 

It is enough for us to believe that on a summer day 
in 1777, a group of young women of a town in New 
Hampshire came down to the shore bearing a large 
and beautiful Flag, their gift to Captain John Paul 
Jones of the Ranger. A company of towns-people 
and sailors, with the gallant Captain and the patriotic 
girls in the center, gathered on the deck of the ship, 
and Paul Jones with his own hands hoisted Old Glory 
to the top of the mast. 

That scene was the starting-point for a series of his- 
toric episodes in the story of the American Flag. The 
Stars and Stripes of Portsmouth town was destined 
to set the pace, and a swift and glorious one at that, 
for many other American naval ensigns to follow. It 
was the first Old Glory on the sea, and it made for 
itself a record that has never been surpassed and 
probably never will be equaled. 

It is not out of place here to give a fragment of the 
story of the Ranger herself, the first battleship to 
fly the Stars and Stripes, and to copy a few lines from 
old records of her memorable voyage across the At- 
lantic in the late months of 1777. She was American 
from top-mast to keel. Even a number of her guns 
were cast in this country. She was one of the first 
American ships to be coppered, and she was longer 
by six feet than any other ship of her class of the 
day. She could "run like a hound" going free, but 
was decidedly cranky in work to windward. Jones 



70 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

realized that she was top-heavy, but defied sea and 
storm by adding to her armament and raising her cen- 
ter of weight. 

That voyage across the Atlantic that commenced on 
Nov. l, 1777, was "terrific," according to Lieutenant 
Hall, who said, more in detail, "I had never seen a ship 
crowded as Captain Jones drove the Ranger. Imagine 
the situation of the crew, with a top-heavy and crank 
ship under their feet, and a commander who day 
and night insisted on every rag she could stagger un- 
der without laying clear down." Jones was carry- 
ing to France the news of Saratoga, and weather was 
not to hinder his ship. 

Among the poems written during the Revolution 
is one that authorities claim "shows internal evidence 
that indicates it was composed by a member of the 
Ranger's crew." There was a boy, Charley Hill, on 
the ship, who amused himself and his comrades by 
writing and reciting poems on patriotic subjects. One 
of them, on the surrender of Burgoyne, was received 
with especial delight. Young Hill may have been 
the author of "The Yankee Man of War," of which 
the following is the opening stanza: 

" 'Tis of a gallant Yankee ship that flew the stripes and stars, 
And the whistling wind from the west-nor-west blew through 

the pitch-pine spars. 
With her starboard tacks aboard, my boys, she hung upon 

the gale; 
On an autumn night we raised the light on the old head of 

Kinsale." 

That is a stirring picture of the Ranger with her 
Flag of the girls of Portsmouth town snapping in the 



STARS AND STRIPES— PAUL JONES 71 

wind, crossing the very stretch of sea off Kinsale where, 
years later, the Lusitania was to go down, and, in the 
dying cries of her women and children, call on Old 
Glory for justice. 

Paul Jones carried the Stars and Stripes straight 
across the stormy Atlantic to the shores of Europe. 
If we Americans ever build a Hall of Flags in Wash- 
ington, as has been suggested, to commemorate great 
events in the history of Old Glory, he must have a 
commanding niche in the shrine at the heart of that 
Hall. 



XII 

The Flag and the Poets of the Revolution 

THE poetry of the sea written by Americans dur- 
ing the Revolution, quite frequently mentions 
the Flag, and always in a manner, after 1777, that in- 
dicates the Stars and Stripes as the ensign of the Navy. 
As Paul Jones was the inspiration of more than one 
line of verse, we introduce this brief chapter on the 
Flag and the poets of the period, at this stage in our 
book. There is reason to believe that the phrase 
"stripes and stars," found in the first line of "The 
Yankee Man of War" and quoted in the preceding 
chapter, was the first use, in an inverted form, of the 
now famous, popular title for the Flag, in history. 
One of the earliest poems in which Paul Jones fig- 
ured was written by an unknown writer. We give a 
stanza in which much of the life of Jones is epit- 
omized : 

"In the first fleet that sailed in defence of our land, 
Paul Jones forward stood to defend freedom's arbor; 
He led the bold Alfred at Hopkins' command, 
And drove the fierce foeman from Providence harbor. 

'Twas his hand that raised 

The first flag that blazed, 
And his deeds 'neath the Tine Tree' all ocean amazed." 

72 



THE FLAG AND THE POETS 73 

It is our contention, although others differ with us, 
that the phrase "The first flag that blazed" refers to 
the Stars and Stripes; for it is a perfect figure for the 
flaming red stripes of Old Glory. And it is correct 
in its history, when we have in mind the raising of 
the Portsmouth Flag over the Ranger. 

Philip Freneau, one of the two really notable poets 
of the period, mentions the Stars and Stripes in at 
least four of his poems written during or immediately 
after the war. We quote from these poems, in the 
order of their appearance. In "On the New American 
Frigate Alliance" probably written in 1778, are these 
two lines : 

"As nearer still the monarch drew, 
Her starry flag displayed to view," 

The Alliance was closely identified with Paul Jones. 
The story of his escape in her from the Texel, Hol- 
land, in December, 1779, when he eluded the British 
fleet, makes good reading. In a letter to the French- 
man, Dumas, written on Dec. 27, 1779, Jones said, 
"I am here, my dear sir, with a good wind at east, 
under my best American colors." 

Freneau' s "On the Memorable Victory," a poem 
that commemorated Paul Jones' victory of the Bon 
Homme Richard over the Serapis, appeared in print 
August 8, 1781, but undoubtedly was written earlier. 
It contains this stanza: 

"Go on, great man, to scourge the foe, 
And bid the haughty Britons know 
They to our Thirteen Stars shall bend; 



74 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

The Stars that, veiled in dark attire, 
Long glimmered with a feeble fire, 
But radiant now ascend." 



Freneau's "veiled in dark attire" must mean the 
years of despair that shadowed the American Cause 
before the time of the alliance with France. 

Two lines from Freneau's "An Ancient Prophecy," 
written after the surrender of Cornwallis, run in this 
manner : 

"O King, my dear King, you shall be very sore. 
From the Stars and the Stripes you will mercy implore." 

The second line appears in the following form in 
another edition of the poem : 

"The Stars and the Lily shall run you on shore." 

The "Lily" is a tribute to the flag of France of 
the period, which was white, with the golden lilies of 
Louis upon it. 

Freneau's poem "Barney's Invitation," written in 
honor of Commodore Barney, gives us these four lines : 

"See on her stern the waving stars, 
Inured to blood, inured to wars. 
Come enter quick, my jolly tars, 
To scourge these warlike Britons." 

"See on her stern the waving stars" is a word- 
picture of the Stars and Stripes displayed on the en- 
sign-gaff of the mizzen-mast, over the stern of Bar- 
ney's ship. 



THE FLAG AND THE POETS 75 

Paul Jones, the Ranger, and the Stars and Stripes, 
gave the keynote for a poetry of victory. There may 
be some doubt as to exact dates and places connected 
with the display of Old Glory on land during the 
Revolutionary War. No one can question the rec- 
ord of the Flag at sea during the same period of time. 
Almost from the month of its adoption as the national 
emblem, it went to the masthead and stayed there, 
to be cheered by Americans, honored by Frenchmen, 
and respected by Englishmen. 



XIII 

France Salutes the Stars and Stripes 

WE return to the story of the Ranger. She ar- 
rived at Nantes on December 2, 1777, when 
Jones found, somewhat to his disappointment, that an- 
other New England ship had reached France with the 
news of Burgoyne's surrender, ahead of him. For a 
number of weeks, he remained in French waters. On 
February 13, 1778, he was off Quiberon Bay, and saw 
that a French fleet was anchored in the roadstead. 

Jones' early and brief account of the first salute to 
the Stars and Stripes by a foreign Power, is found in 
this passage from his journal: "Reached the Bay (Qui- 
beron), Feb'y 13, 1778, and sent to demand of the 
Admiral, if he would return his (Jones') salute; and 
this compliment was immediately agreed to by that 
brave officer, although neither he nor Jones knew at 
the period that a treaty of alliance had been signed 
between France and America, seven days before. This 
was the first salute received by the American flag from 
any power, and occasioned much debate in the English 
Parliament." 

Dr. Ezra Green, surgeon of the Ranger, wrote in his 
diary for February 14, 1778, "Saluted the French Ad- 
miral, and received nine guns in return. This is the 
very first salute ever paid the American flag." 

76 



FRANCE SALUTES OLD GLORY 77 

This recognition of the Stars and Stripes by the 
Fleur-de-lis of France requires a more detailed ac- 
count, one that shows how insistent Paul Jones was in 
requesting and obtaining a salute that should be be- 
yond doubt a proper tribute to the United States and 
to the Flag. 

To be absolutely correct in this affair at Quiberon 
Bay, there were two salutes given to Old Glory by 
the French fleet under Admiral La Motte Piquet: one 
on the evening of February 14, 1778, and the other 
on the next morning. Jones' date, February 13, in 
the passage above quoted, refers to the day of his ar- 
rival at Quiberon. The delay in the exchanging of 
salutes was caused by an interchange of notes be- 
tween Jones and the Admiral. When the former made 
his request for a formal recognition of the American 
Flag, on February 13, the latter replied that he would 
return four guns less than the number he received. 
This ruling as to the number of guns fired was in ac- 
cordance with La Motte Piquet's instructions, which 
prescribed the firing of four guns less for a Republic 
than a sister Kingdom. 

Paul Jones was determined on receiving a salute 
worthy the Stars and Stripes and the new Republic 
it represented, and he sent this letter to William Car- 
michael, the American agent at Quiberon, to be de- 
livered to the French Admiral : 

"Feb'y. 14, 1778. 

"Dear Sir; I am extremely sorry to give you fresh trouble, 

but I think the admiral's answer of yesterday requires an 

explanation. The haughty English return gun for gun to 

foreign officers of equal rank, and two less only to captains 



78 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

by flag officers. It is true, my command at present is not 
important, yet, as the senior American officer at present in 
Europe, it is my duty to claim an equal return of respect to 
the flag of the United States that would be shown to any 
other flag whatever. 

"I therefore take the liberty of inclosing an appointment, 
perhaps as respectable as any which the French admiral can 
produce ; besides which I have others in my possession. 

"If, however, he persists in refusing to return an equal 
salute, I will accept of two guns less, as I have not the rank 
of admiral. 

"It is my opinion that he would return four less to a pri- 
vateer or a merchant ship ; therefore, as I have been honoured 
oftener than once with a chief command of ships of war, I 
can not in honour accept of the same terms of respect. 

"You will singularly oblige me by waiting upon the ad- 
miral; and I ardently hope you will succeed in the applica- 
tion, else I shall be under a necessity of departing without 
coming into the bay. 

"I have the honour to be, etc. 

"N. B. — Though thirteen guns is your greatest salute in 
America, yet if the French admiral should prefer a greater 
number he has his choice on conditions." 



Now that was a decidedly daring letter to send to 
La Motte Piquet. There is reason to believe that 
when Paul Jones thought it over, while awaiting a 
reply, he realized that, after all, the real object to be 
gained was the salute, a positive recognition of an 
American ship under an American Flag, by a great 
European Power. Therefore, when he was advised 
that La Motte Piquet could not alter a custom of his 
nation, Jones agreed to receive the nine guns in re- 
sponse to his thirteen. 

It was after sunset on the evening of the 14th of 



FRANCE SALUTES OLD GLORY 79 

February, 1778, when the Ranger got under way and 
came beating into Quiberon Bay through a smoky sea. 
The first stars were in sight when she was abreast of 
the huge French flagship. Jones backed the Ranger's 
main-topsail, and the six-pounders on the main-deck 
banged out a salute of thirteen guns. La Motte Pi- 
quet at once returned with nine great guns. The 
Stars and Stripes had received its first salute from a 
foreign Power. 

But Paul Jones was not satisfied. He had with him 
a brig, the Independence, and, always having a fond- 
ness for spectacular events, he sent word to La Motte 
Piquet that on the morrow, the 15th of February, 1778, 
he would sail the Independence through the French 
fleet in broad daylight, and repeat the salute. The 
Admiral graciously consented to reply. So the saucy 
little Independence, with a Stars and Stripes at the 
top of each mast, rode in triumph past the lines of 
towering three-deckers, and gave and received salutes. 
The history of the United States had been given dates 
in the story of the Stars and Stripes that never will be 
forgotten. 



XIV 

The Flag at Valley Forge 

A FLAG smitten by the winter winds. A Flag 
over headquarters in a camp of starved, frozen 
and dying men. The Flag at bay at Valley Forge. As 
a December sun sank into banks of snow clouds, the 
ragged Continental Army tramped into this vale among 
the Pennsylvania hills. A recorder of the finish of their 
march tells us that a number of half-naked men were 
crowded around a fire at a bivouac. Suddenly Wash- 
ington appeared. "The officer commanding the de- 
tachment, choosing the most favored ground, paraded 
his men to pay the General the honor of a passing 
salute. As Washington rode slowly up, he was ob- 
served to be eyeing very earnestly something that at- 
tracted his attention on the frozen surface of the road. 
'How comes it, sir,' he inquired, 'that I have tracked 
the march of your troop by the blood-stains of their 
feet*?' Washington received this reply: 'Your Ex- 
cellency, when shoes were issued, the different regi- 
ments were served in turn. It was our misfortune to 
be among the last to be served !' " 

At no time in our history as a nation has the Flag 
meant more than during the winter of 1777-1778 at 
Valley Forge. As it rippled against the blue sky, clear 
and beautiful, or was seen proudly defiant through 

80 



THE FLAG AT VALLEY FORGE 81 

whirls of snow, Old Glory was the image of the heroic 
regiments clustered beneath and around it. The 
United States of America was in that camp, and not 
in the hall of the weak Congress at York. Mere words 
that we might write could never give any conception 
of the fortitude of the Continental Army that found 
itself as a Democracy at Valley Forge. Steuben, who 
arrived in the camp on February 5, 1778, said, "No 
European army could be kept together under such suf- 
fering." 

Among the mere boys with Washington during that 
winter was one John Marshall, in years to come the 
great Chief Justice and historian. He wrote, "More 
than once they were absolutely without food. The 
returns of the first of Feb'y, exhibit the astonishing 
number of 3989 men in the camp unfit for duty for 
want of clothes. Of this number scarcely a man had 
a pair of shoes. Although the total of the army ex- 
ceeded 17,000 men, the present effective rank and file 
amounted to only 5012." 

On February 16, 1778, soon after Steuben's arrival, 
Washington wrote as follows to Governor Clinton: 
"For some days past, there has been little less than a 
famine in camp. A part of the army has been a week 
without any kind of flesh, and the rest three or four 
days. Naked and starved as they are, we cannot enough 
admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the 
soldiery that they have not been ere this excited by 
their sufferings to general mutiny and desertion." 

Valley Forge was the nation's first crucible. In that 
bowl in the hills, the sons of English Puritan Cava- 
lier and Quaker, with Irishmen, Scotchmen, French- 



82 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

men, Germans, Swedes, Danes and Poles, were fused 
by the alchemy of nature and their own heroism, into 
an Army and a Nation. The Flag had become the sym- 
bol of unity, of a real Democracy. 

The presence of the Flag at Valley Forge is a 
matter of inference on the part of the historian. There 
is no reference to it in any history of the Continental 
Army in the camp, and a search through orderly books 
gives no clew. Yet it must have been there. The near- 
est we can get to evidence that a flag was hoisted in 
the camp, is in a living testimonial. Miss Frances B. 
Lovell, a descendant of Betty Lewis, the only sister 
of George Washington, loaned to the Valley Forge 
Museum of American History the flag which floated 
over Washington's headquarters. 

This headquarters' flag is a jack of light blue silk 
with thirteen stars. The blue is faded and the stars 
are yellow with age. The flag is thirty-six inches long 
and twenty-eight inches wide. The stars are six- 
pointed, double stitched, and the silk back of them 
has been cut out to show the stars on both sides. These 
stars are not arranged in a circle, but on lines that 
follow the crosses of the British flag. 

It is a bit of poetic license to substitute Washing- 
ton's headquarters' flag for the Stars and Stripes. That 
flag, in its thirteen stars, was expressive of unity and 
a proof in itself that the standard carried by the Con- 
tinental Army in 1777-1778, was a real Old Glory. 
Its size, indicating that it was merely the jack taken 
from a much larger Flag, tells the story. 

The placing of the stars in this jack, in a form 
copied from the crosses in the British ensign, suggests 



THE FLAG AT VALLEY FORGE 83 

a new line of research. Possibly the statement quoted 
in chapter nine, that there was not in 1779 a standard 
form for the Flag of the United States, was inspired 
by a confusion as to the grouping of the stars in the 
Revolutionary Old Glory. Trumbull, although he 
went astray in some particulars, knew what he was do- 
ing when he gave us a Stars and Stripes in at least 
three of his paintings. He always showed the stars 
arranged in a circle. This mode of placing them is 
especially prominent in the splendid American Flag 
shown in his "Surrender of Cornwallis." What was 
the rule as to the stars in the days of the Continental 
Army? Was there such a rule? 

But we have digressed. On May 6, 1778, the Con- 
tinental Army was drawn up by brigades at Valley 
Forge to receive official announcement of the treaty 
of alliance with France. To the stripling Lafayette, 
commanding a division as the regiments fell into line 
and presented arms beneath the Stars and Stripes, that 
morning must have been an hour of triumph. There 
was a roar of muskets and thirteen cannon, followed by 
the cry, "Long live the King of France." Then came 
another roar of guns and the cry, "Long live the friend- 
ly European Powers !" And then, lastly, a crash, with 
a tremendous shout that ran along the lines, "The 
American States!" 

The stripes of red and white were of the blood and 
the snow of Valley Forge beneath the blue of Heaven, 
where heroic men were to establish the stars of George 
Washington's headquarters forever. 



XV 
Old Glory Crosses the Alleghanies 

MORGAN'S riflemen were on the march from the 
Shenandoah Valley to Boston, in 1775. They 
were men of the frontier, each wearing a hunting shirt 
with "Liberty or Death" on the breast in white let- 
ters. While on their way, Washington came riding 
along the lines, met them, and received Morgan's 
salute. There was a look of query in Washington's 
eyes, and Morgan said, simply, "From the right bank 
of the Potomac, General!" Washington at once dis- 
mounted and, with his eyes brimming with tears, walked 
along the ranks, shaking hands with the men in turn. 

It was a body of men of this type, in many ways 
the finest troop of its size then on the globe, that car- 
ried Old Glory across the Alleghanies on its pioneer 
journey of western conquest, with George Rogers 
Clark, in 1778. So much of our history of the Revolu- 
tion is concerned with the conduct of the war in the 
thirteen Colonies that the magnitude and significance 
of Clark's great enterprise is almost hidden from sight. 

George Rogers Clark was only twenty-five years old 
when he came before Patrick Henry, Thomas Jeffer- 
son, George Mason and George Wythe with his au- 
dacious plan of striking at the British in their huge 
territory that stretched from the Alleghanies on the 

84 



OLD GLORY CROSSES ALLEGHANIES 85 

east and the Ohio on the south, to the Mississippi River 
on the west. The old French posts of Detroit, Kas- 
kaskia and Vincennes were the supply-centers of this 
hostile country, from which the Indians were sent out 
to fall on the long, weakly defended rear of the thir- 
teen States. Clark studied his plan from all angles 
and was positive that he could supplant the Union Jack 
of Great Britain with the Stars and Stripes, over the 
posts that were the hot-beds of plot and active hos- 
tility. 

Clark gathered his little army of one hundred and 
fifty men on Corn Island, near the present city of 
Louisville, and, after drilling them carefully, set out 
on his really tremendous task on June 24, 1778. On 
the Fourth of July, at sunset, the company came in 
sight of Kaskaskia, crossed the river and marched to 
the fort. We are told that a dance was in progress, 
that Clark, like an apparition, suddenly appeared at 
a door of the room, that an Indian recognized him as 
an enemy and gave a wild war-whoop. Clark told the 
Englishmen to go on with their dance, but bade them 
remember that they were to continue it in honor of the 
United States and not of Great Britain. At daybreak 
the Stars and Stripes floated for the first time over a 
fort in the vast area then known as the Northwest 
Territory. 

From Kaskaskia, Clark sent a priest, Father Gib- 
ault, to Vincennes, to invite the French residents to 
join hands with the American States. Father Gibault 
won his people over to the new allegiance, and the 
French themselves raised Old Glory over Fort Sack- 
ville, the post at Vincennes. 



86 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

The Flag was not to fly unchallenged over the forts 
so easily taken. Down from Detroit came Henry 
Hamilton, with troops at his heels, and Vincennes was 
again in British hands. Clark heard that with the ap- 
proach of winter, Hamilton had dismissed his Indian 
allies and held Sackville with eighty men. He also 
learned that Hamilton expected heavy reinforcements 
in the spring and intended to drive the Stars and 
Stripes beyond the mountains, forever. 

A great issue in the history of North America was 
at stake. Clark knew it, realized that England, with 
that magnificent hinterland in her grip, would be a 
menace to the United States, even after the close of 
the war. He struck at once. With barely one hun- 
dred men, he set out on February 4, 1779, to cross 
a land half quagmire. On February 15, the heroic 
little band came to the forks of the Little Wabash. 
From that day on, for ten days, they struggled toward 
Vincennes, through ice, water and mud, at times so 
submerged that they were forced to hold their guns 
and powder-horns above their heads to keep them dry. 

To make this chapter short, Fort Sackville, or Vin- 
cennes, surrendered to those iron men. The British 
marched out and gave up their arms. The Americans 
marched in and hoisted Old Glory. A salute of thir- 
teen guns was then fired from the captured British 
cannon. 

The country won for the Flag by George Rogers 
Clark became in time the imperial States of Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. Into that 
Empire, after the Revolution was over, trailed the 



OLD GLORY CROSSES ALLEGHANIES 87 

first emigrants from Northeastern States, following the 
tides of rivers and skirting the southern shores of the 
Great Lakes. The Stars and Stripes had begun its 
journey toward the Pacific. 



XVI 

The Flag Sinks Into the Sea Unconquered 

WE return to the records of Paul Jones and his 
Flag. You will remember that in February, 
1778, France honored the Stars and Stripes, displayed 
on the Ranger and the Independence, with national 
salutes in Quiberon Bay. Two months later, on April 
24, 1778, Paul Jones, then in the Irish Channel with 
the Ranger, learned from fishermen that the Drake, 
the British guard-ship at Carrickfergus, was about to 
run out in search of him. Late in the afternoon, near 
sunset, the Drake drew near and flung out the English 
colors. The Ranger hoisted the Stars and Stripes. 
When hailed with "What ship is that*?" Jones replied, 
"The American Continental ship Ranger. Come on! 
We are waiting for you." 

That fight in sight of three Kingdoms was dramatic. 
It was the first challenge of a new Flag to an old one 
under the hills of the latter's home. Paul Jones won 
through the superior gun-fire of his crew, who caught 
the period of the Drake's roll and fired as the muzzles 
of the Ranger's cannon fell and those of the Drake 
rose. The British ship would have been sunk then 
and there if Jones had not commanded his gunners 
to change tactics, fire on a rising sea, and disable the 
rigging of the Drake. He desired, above all things, 

as 



THE FLAG SINKS UNCONQUERED 89 

to sail into a French port with the Union Jack low- 
ered on a prize taken in hand-to-hand battle, with the 
Stars and Stripes a victor beyond dispute. France 
required a sign. He would give it, in a sloop-of-war 
taken by one of inferior armament. Jones' anxiety 
to get the shattered Drake to the coast of France is 
revealed in his letter of May 7, 1778, to Lieutenant 
Elijah Hall, whom he had placed in command of the 
Drake: "The honor of our flag is much concerned in 
the preservation of this prize." 

On the evening of May 8, 1778, Paul Jones neared 
the outer road of Brest and saw the moving lights of 
the patrolling guard-frigates of the French Grand 
Fleet at anchor in the roadstead. Imagine his feel- 
ings as he glanced up and saw his Flag, a rippling 
shadow against the stars, and then turned to watch 
the looming shapes of two French frigates bearing 
down within hail. Over the water came a call, "Who 
are you and what is your prize ?" Paul Jones an- 
swered, over the taffrail of the Ranger: "The Ameri- 
can Continental ship Ranger, of eighteen guns, Cap- 
tain Paul Jones, and the man-of-war prize is his 
Britannic Majesty's late ship the Drake, of twenty 
guns." 

The path followed by the Ranger's Flag, from the 
day when it left Portsmouth to the hour when it came 
up over the sea-rim off France, a victor over the "me- 
teor flag of England," was a definite hint of the roads 
of high adventure to be traversed by Yankee sea- 
fighters in years to come, under Old Glory. Paul 
Jones took the Ranger right into waterways patrolled 
by British men-of-war vastly superior in metal, straight 



go THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

up the Irish sea, out through its north channel, and 
round Ireland by the west, back to France. During 
the latter part of his historic cruise, he had the battered 
Drake in convoy. 

We go on over nearly a year and a half, to the 
month of the appearance of Paul Jones and his Flag 
in one of the most widely known events in the history 
of the United States. It is proper to precede the ac- 
count of the sea-fight off Flamborough Head with a 
reference to a letter written by Jones late in 1775, 
which reveals the unconquerable spirit of the man. 
This letter, written to the Marine Committee of Con- 
gress, sets forth his views as to the personnel of the 
navy. It has been called by an English writer, "The 
moral and intellectual charter of Annapolis." In it 
we find this glowing passage: "A commander may 
challenge the devotion of his followers to sink with 
him alongside the more powerful foe, and all go down 
together with the unstricken flag of their country still 
waving defiantly over them in their ocean sepulcher." 

On a moonlit night in September, 1779, off the east 
coast of England, Paul Jones himself answered the 
clarion call to heroism of that sentence. Englishmen 
have vied with Americans in describing that terrific 
fight between Jones, in a rotten hulk of a ship, the 
Bon Homme Richard, and Pearson, in the Serapis, 
termed by Disraeli "one of the finest frigates of his 
Majesty's Navy." 

For hours, in a light off-shore wind, the two frigates 
exchanged broadsides. The superior weight of metal 
of the Serapis smashed through the decayed hull of the 
Richard, wrecked guns, killed and wounded a great 



THE FLAG SINKS UNCONQUERED 91 

part of the crew. Jones feared that his ship would 
be blown out of the water and, having the windward 
position, deliberately closed, grappled, and lashed the 
Richard to the Serapis with his own hands. 

Then came the moment when Pearson, thinking he 
saw the Stars and Stripes coming down, called across 
to Jones, "Have you struck your colors?" This im- 
mortal reply was hurled back, "No! I have but this 
instant commenced to fight." Over the rail and the 
hammock netting went a boarding party led by the 
Virginian, Richard Dale, the Huguenot Carolinian, 
John Mayrant, and the Nantucket Indian boy, Jerry 
Evans. The fight was won. Pearson grasped the hal- 
liards and struck his colors to Old Glory. 

Paul Jones fought his great fight with a crew of 
which less than one-fifth were Americans, a crew held 
together and dominated by his unbending determina- 
tion to conquer or sink to the bottom of the sea uncon- 
quered. Mackenzie, one of the early biographers of 
Jones, wrote, "Had Pearson been equally indomita- 
ble, the Richard, if not boarded from below, would 
at last have gone down with all her colors flying in 
proud defiance." 

Paul Jones took the Serapis and lost the Bon 
Homme Richard. For a day and a half, with her dead 
aboard her, the splintered remnant of the Richard 
rolled on the surface of the sea. Jones watched her 
from the deck of the Serapis. At length, on the morn- 
ing of September 25, 1779, she sank, bow first. Her 
tattered Stars and Stripes floated for a brief moment 
on a sweeping wave, and then trailed down beneath 
the blue that mingled with its field of stars. 



92 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

The Stars and Stripes that the girls of Portsmouth 
made, that crossed the ocean on the Ranger^ that re- 
ceived La Motte Piquet's salute, that compelled the 
colors of the Drake to come down, was and is the 
only flag in history to go beneath the waves on a vic- 
torious ship sinking beside the enemy she had captured. 

Paul Jones had said, "The flag and I are twins!" 
What thoughts were in his mind as he wrote, "The 
very last vestige mortal eyes ever saw of the Bon 
Homme Richard was the defiant waving of her un- 
conquered and unstricken flag as she went down. And, 
as I had given them the good old ship for their sepul- 
cher, I now bequeathed to my immortal dead the flag 
they had so desperately defended, for their winding 
sheet." 

Quarter-gunner John Kilby's picture is superb. In 
his "Narrative," he wrote, "She went down head fore- 
most with all sails set — studding sails, top-gallant 
sails, royals, sky-scrapers, and every sail that could be 
put on a ship, — jack, pennant, and that beautiful en- 
sign that she so gallantly wore in action and when we 
conquered. A most glorious sight." 



XVII 

Stars and Stripes, Union Jack and Fleur-de-lis 

ONE of Canada's ablest historians, A. G. Bradley, 
in a chapter on the close of the American Revo- 
lution, has the following picturesque passage : "A mad 
world enough it would have seemed to any man, 
French or English, but thirty years dead, could he 
have risen from his grave by the James, the Hudson 
or the St. Lawrence, and roamed it again. A British 
flag flying on the citadel of Quebec, and a strange de- 
vice fluttering on every public building from Boston 
to Charleston, with the lilies of France hoisted in 
amity beside it." 

Bradley covered much history in that paragraph. 
He touched on the French and Indian War, with its 
close in 1759 when the English flag took the place of 
the French standard at Quebec. And he then moved 
on to 1781 or 1783, when the Stars and Stripes, "a 
strange device," waved in company with the Fleur- 
de-lis of France over all the length of the thirteen 
States. On the date this page is being written, Decem- 
ber 13, 1918, a President of the United States is at 
Brest, France, where, as here in America, the three flags 
are intertwined after the close of a war. Surely his- 
tory effects strange but beautiful mutations. 

It is quite in order to make this chapter, when we 

93 



94 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

consider the date on which it is written, both a logical 
step forward in the advance of our history and a leap 
to the present time. For there are elements of old 
and contemporary history here concerned, that fasci- 
nate and hold us, that appear to have eluded our edi- 
tors and recorders of to-day. We tell, briefly, the 
story of Yorktown, and throw one or two flashlights 
of reminiscence on the French coast at Quiberon Bay 
and Brest, localities that have been tinged with the 
colors of the flags of France, Great Britain and the 
United States. 

In October, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered at York- 
town, after being hemmed in by sea and shore, by the 
American and French forces. The allied flags had met 
on shipboard when Washington conferred with de 
Grasse, and, side by side, they had stormed the British 
lines, led on by Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton, Baron 
de Viomenil and John Laurens. The hour had come 
for the final picture, the actual culmination of the 
American Revolution, although two full years were to 
elapse ere the English troops left New York and the 
United States. 

Down the lane between the two lines, Americans of 
the Continental Army on the one hand and the French 
on the other, tramped the British and Hessians, not 
altogether happy, and with colors cased, a penalty 
exacted for similar treatment accorded General Lin- 
coln at Charleston. When the twenty-four standards 
were collected, they were found to be eighteen Hes- 
sian and six English. John Trumbull's painting, in 
this case, is most satisfactory. He shows on one side 
the white banner of France with its golden Fleur-de- 



THREE GREAT FLAGS 95 

lis, and on the other our resplendent Old Glory, with 
the thirteen stars in a circle. 

Now for a flight across the Atlantic. The great 
French harbor on that Breton thrust of land into the 
sea to the northwest, at the time of which we have 
been writing, was Brest. It owed its existence to the 
foresight of Richelieu. To link past with present, it 
has figured in French history from the years of the 
eighteenth century down to the period of the recent 
war when it served as a port of entry and exit in 
marine warfare. A few miles from Brest, to the south- 
east, is Quiberon Bay. The narrow strip of land on 
which Yorktown lies, and the tongue of rocky soil 
that reaches out into the sea at Quiberon, are similar, 
and they give us peculiar resemblances and contrasts 
in history. 

At Yorktown in 1781, the troops of an English 
King surrendered to the forces of the young Republic 
of the United States, aided by soldiers from the King- 
dom of France. At Quiberon in 1795, that remark- 
able body of men, the loyalist Chouans, fought their 
last fight under the Fleur-de-lis against the French 
Republicans marching under the Tricolor and led by 
Hoche and Rouget de Lisle, the latter of whom wrote 
the Marseillaise. In each case, at Yorktown and at 
Quiberon, British ships, at hand or approaching, were 
useless. 

A novelist of 1918, in one of the best historical nov- 
els of the year, has a fine sentence on the cutting down 
of the Fleur-de-lis at Quiberon: "The golden lilies 
were in the dust, and all was vain — ardor and sacri- 
fice and devotion — as vain as the fury and despair that 



96 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

saw them wither, watered though they were with the 
best blood of France." 

Quiberon Bay has another interest for us. There, in 
1759, the year when Quebec fell to Wolfe, the red- 
esigned ships of British Admiral Howe smashed the 
lily-bannered ships of Conflans, after nightfall, in a 
howling storm and on a lee shore one of the most 
treacherous and dangerous in the world. And there, 
in Quiberon Bay, in February, 1778, another French 
admiral, La Motte Piquet, saluted two little adven- 
turous ships from a weak Republic across the Atlantic, 
commanded by one Paul Jones who displayed a defiant 
Flag of Stars and Stripes, under which he was to give 
Englishmen lessons in fighting that Frenchmen never 
could administer. How the three flags of England, 
France and the United States, shift in historic combi- 
nations ! 

The French flag at Yorktown, fluttering in triumph, 
was the same flag that was trailed in the dust at Qui- 
beron, in its last stand. The flag that opposed it was 
the Tricolor, suggested by the Stars and Stripes and 
then but a year old. This Tricolor, later in that very 
year, 1795, found a young officer of artillery in Paris, 
by name Napoleon Bonaparte, who took it and car- 
ried it over all Europe, and literally wrote upon it in 
letters of blood the words "Marengo, 55 "Austerlitz, 55 
"Waterloo. 55 

We go up the French coast to Brest, through whose 
narrow portal on May 8, 1778, sailed Paul Jones in 
the Ranger, bringing in the Drake, the first British 
ship-of-war ever trailed into a French port as the result 
of a single-ship action, to the amazement and delight 



THREE GREAT FLAGS 97 

of Frenchmen. To-day, a President of the United 
States enters the harbor of Brest, with guns roaring 
and flags streaming from roofs, windows and staffs. 
In 1778, Paul Jones brought in with him, at Brest, 
the Union Jack displaced by the Stars and Stripes, and 
received the salute of cannon that blazed beneath the 
Fleur-de-lis. Woodrow Wilson comes to the road- 
stead of Brest, to find it aglow with the Red, White 
and Blue of the three mighty Tricolors, the Stars and 
Stripes, the Union Jack and the Tricolor of France. 

While we are speaking of Tricolors, we will settle 
one or two little points of flag-history. Bradley's 
"strange device, ,, the Stars and Stripes of 1781, now 
marches with the flags of Great Britain and France, 
and, strangely enough, is in reality the oldest flag of 
the three. Down to the year 1801, the flag of Great 
Britain had but two crosses in the Union, those of St. 
George and St. Andrew. In that year the cross of St. 
Patrick was added, giving us the present English 
standard. The Lilies of Louis disappeared forever in 
the flame of the French Revolution, to be replaced 
by the Tricolor in 1794. 

In view of the present alliance of three great na- 
tions that at times have been hostile in varying politi- 
cal conditions of war, it is well to relate briefly two 
minor but significant incidents in the histories of their 
three flags; the first salute granted to Old Glory by 
the Union Jack, and the first greeting to our Flag by 
the Tricolor on French soil. 

On May 2, 1791, the English ship Alligator, Cap- 
tain Isaac CofRn, while entering Boston from Halifax, 
saluted the Stars and Stripes floating on the Castle, 



98 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

and the fort at once returned with her guns. This was 
undoubtedly the first salute to Old Glory by any rep- 
resentative of Great Britain. 

During the deliberations of the National Conven- 
tion, Paris, August 15, 1794, James Monroe, the Min- 
ister Plenipotentiary of the United States, arrived and 
was introduced. After the reading of credentials, it 
was decreed, on the motion of Mons. Bayle, "that the 
colors of both nations should be suspended at the vault 
of the hall, as a sign of perpetual alliance and union." 

In delivering the Stars and Stripes, Captain Joshua 
Barney said, in closing a short address, "Henceforth, 
suspended on the side of that of the French Republic, 
it will become the symbol of the union which subsists 
between the two nations, and last, I hope, as long as 
the freedom which they have so bravely acquired and 
so wisely consolidated." Prophetic words, that found 
a brave echo in Pershing's "Lafayette, we are here!" 



XVIII 

Flag-Episodes of 1781-1783 

THE two years from October, 1781, to November, 
1783, were trying ones for Americans and Eng- 
lishmen. They formed what was practically a period 
of armistice, for the Treaty of Peace and the evacua- 
tion of New York by the British were not on the pages 
of history until November, 1783. In our search 
through the interesting records of these two years, we 
find three episodes in which the Stars and Stripes fig- 
ured as the sole center of interest and discussion. There 
is a touch of romance in the story of each one of these 
episodes, and not a little humor. 

In December, 1 782, King George the Third formally 
recognized the independence of the United States. The 
sea was open to American merchantmen, and the ports 
of the thirteen States at once sent out ships to all 
quarters of the world in quest of markets. A member 
of this fleet was the Bedford, Captain Moores, of 
Massachusetts, and she pointed straight across the At- 
lantic for London Town. Her cargo was whale-oil. 

The Bedford passed Gravesend on February 4, 
1783, and was reported at the Custom House, London, 
on the 6th of the month. As the Treaty of Peace be- 
tween Great Britain and the United States was not 
signed until September of that year, there was still 

99 



ioo THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

some tension between the two countries. London was 
about as ready to salute George Washington walking 
down the Strand as to view with pleasure an American 
ship flying the Stars and Stripes on the Thames. 

If we open the pages of the Political Magazine, 
London, for the year 1783, we find articles that tell 
very plainly how astonished the old city was on seeing 
a Yankee ship, showing Old Glory, lying "a little be- 
low the tower" where more than one American had 
languished during the years of the Revolution. We 
quote, for we cannot improve on the Political Maga- 
zine's account: 

"She is American built, manned wholly b}' American sea- 
men, wears the rebel colors, and belongs to the island of Nan- 
tucket in Massachusetts. This is the first vessel which has 
displayed the thirteen rebellious stripes of America in any 
British port." 

The Political Magazine, in a summary of debates 
in Parliament, said: 

"The Thirteen Stripes in the River. Mr. Hammet begged 
leave to inform the House of a very recent and extraordinary 
event. There was, he said, at the time he was speaking, an 
American ship in the Thames with the thirteen stripes flying 
on board. This ship had offered to enter at the custom house, 
but the officers were at a loss how to behave." 

Mr. Hammet continued in an appeal for "free in- 
tercourse between this country and America." Evi- 
dently, the Bedford had brought in with her a cargo 
of political and merchant-marine problems not so eas- 
ily made fluid as whale-oil, for, as the Political Mag- 



FLAG-EPISODES OF 1781-1783 101 

azine tells us, "The Ministers remained silent." It 
would seem that the members of the British Ministry 
of 1783 were stupefied at the apparition of the thir- 
teen stripes of Old Glory fluttering boldly on the royal 
Thames, and peace yet to be signed. 

One paper, the London Chronicle, in its issue for 
February 7, 1783, waxed ponderously humorous: 

"There is a vessel in the harbor with a very strange flag. 
Thirteen is a number peculiar to the rebels. A party of naval 
prisoners lately returned from Jersey say that the rations 
among the rebels are thirteen dried clams a day. Sachem 
Schuyler has a topknot of thirteen stiff hairs which erect them- 
selves on the crown of his head when he gets mad. It takes 
thirteen Congress paper dollars to equal one shilling sterling. 
Polly Wayne was just thirteen hours in subduing Stony 
Point, and thirteen seconds in leaving it. Every well-organ- 
ised rebel household has thirteen children, all of whom expect 
to be major generals or members of the high and mighty 
Congress of the thirteen United States when they attain the 
age of thirteen years. Mr. Washington has thirteen teeth 
in each jaw, and thirteen toes on each foot, the extra ones 
having grown since that wonderful declaration of independ- 
ence, and Mrs. Washington has a tomcat with thirteen yellow 
rings around his tail. His flaunting it suggested to the Con- 
gress the same number of stripes for the rebel flag." 

It is safe to surmise that many Londoners went to 
the Thames in February, 1783, to see "the rebellious 
stripes of America.' ' John Wilkes, that thorn in the 
side of Tory England, had a sister, then the widow of 
a George Hayley who "did much business with New 
England." It is on record that she visited the Bedford 
and saw the Stars and Stripes displayed. 

The Bedford was for England the herald of the 



102 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

splendid fleet of American merchantmen and whalers 
that were soon to make Old Glory the rival of any 
flag afloat upon the high seas. 

We come back to the soil of the United States for 
our last two little stories of the Stars and Stripes of 
the days of the Revolution. On the 3rd of September, 
1783. the Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and 
the United States was signed at Paris. The Revolu- 
tion was over. In October. Sir Guy Carleton was or- 
dered to evacuate New York, the only citv of the 
United States then held by British troops. After some 
delay, caused by waiting for ships, the 25th of No- 
vember was agreed upon as the date for the evacua- 
tion. 

It chanced that on Murray Street, near the Hudson 
River, there was at that time a boarding-house kept by 
a Mr. Day, whose wife was a large, muscular woman, 
and a zealously loyal American. In front of the house 
was a pole, and she, true to her colors, ran up the Stars 
and Stripes at dawn of that eventful 25th of Novem- 
ber, in sturdy defiance of the British claim that New 
York was to be in England's hands until noon. We 
can imagine her running to a window at intervals, to 
see if her beloved flag was "still there." 

Across the street, sitting on his fathers stoop, a 
young boy, Alexander Anderson,* later to be famous as 
America's pioneer wood-engraver, watched the Flag 
rippling and tugging at its halliards. Presently, to 
the little fellow's dismay, down the street came Wil- 

* This was the Alexander Anderson referred to in Chapter 
IX as the engraver who put the Stars and Stripes In his cut of 
the battle of Bunker Hill. 



FLAG-EPISODES OF 1781-1783 103 

Ham Cunningham, provost marshal of the English 
army, known in history as a stern oppressor of loyal 
Americans. He saw the Flag and Mrs. Day sweeping 
in front of her door. With a display of bluster and 
loud words, Cunningham ordered her to haul down her 
Flag. Mrs. Day, with her broom clutched resolutely 
in her good right hand, refused to lower it one inch. 

Then came the last pitched battle of the Revolution. 
Cunningham seized the halliards and started to pull 
down the Stars and Stripes. Without a moment of 
hesitation, Mrs. Day fell upon him like a thunderbolt. 
Bang, and again and again, bang went her broom upon 
his head. His wig was twisted; the powder flew in 
all directions; he raised an arm to parry the stout 
whacks of the determined woman. The result of the 
conflict was a sad piece of ignominy for a high-and- 
mighty officer in His Britannic Majesty's Sendee. Baf- 
fled by the unceasing shower of blows and a tangle of 
the halliards, Cunningham was forced to give up the 
attempt to lower the Flag, and to retreat in disorder. 
The Flag, a woman and her broom, had won "a sweep- 
ing victor} 7 ." 

At almost the very hour of that 25th of November, 
1783, when Mrs. Day routed William Cunningham, 
George Washington and his Staff approached New 
York City from the north. By one o'clock, the British 
had collected, preliminary to the evacuation, at the 
water's edge at the lower end of the city. Fort George, 
at the extremity of Broadway, was their last foothold, 
and, before leaving it and the United States forever, 
they nailed an English flag to the staff at the fort, 



104 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

removed the halliards, smeared the pole with grease 
and knocked off the cleats. 

Down Broadway came General Knox and a body of 
troops from West Point, to take possession of Fort 
George. After they had entered, they looked up at 
the British flag fluttering derisively over them. There 
was but one move to make ; get it down as quickly 
as possible. In the group of Americans gathered in 
and around Fort George, was John Van Arsdale, an 
agile sixteen-year-old boy. He searched the neigh- 
borhood for cleats, returned with a number of them 
which he nailed to the staff as he climbed, and so 
reached the Union Jack. Then he ripped it from the 
pole and tossed it to Knox's men below. Tradition 
says that it was seized and torn to fragments. Young 
Van Arsdale completed his work by nailing the Stars 
and Stripes to the top of the staff. 

The writer of this history watched columns of Boy 
Scouts march down Fifth Avenue on April 19, 1917. 
It would be a chivalrous tribute to a nobly patriotic 
body of young Americans, to turn over the privilege 
of raising Old Glory to the top of the staff at the Bat- 
tery, on each November 25, to regiments of Boy Scouts 
of New York City, in memory of the boy John Van 
Arsdale. 



XIX 

The Stars and Stripes Goes Around the World 

IN the years of the eighteenth century that im- 
mediately followed the Revolution, our Flag 
began to appear on the sea on an ever increasing num- 
ber of ships. The dawn of the American merchant 
marine was at hand. Typical of the buoyant youth 
of the young Republic, many a commander was a mere 
boy. Nathaniel Silsbee was master of the Benjamin, 
of Salem, Mass., at the age of twenty. His first mate, 
Charles Derby, was nineteen, and his second mate, 
Richard J. Cleveland, was but eighteen. One histor- 
ian of the period says beautifully, "The picture of one 
of those boyish sea-captains flinging out the Stars and 
Stripes to the breeze on the far side of the earth por- 
trays, better than anything ever said, written or done, 
the spirit of America." 

In 1787, a little company of Boston merchants, in- 
spired by the ardor of one of their number, Joseph 
Barrell, determined to send ships around the Horn to 
reach the fur territories of the great Northwest. New 
York merchants aided them, and the valuable service 
of John Darby, or Derby, a Salem shipmaster, was 
secured in fitting out the expedition. The little syn- 
dicate purchased the Columbia, a stout, seaworthy 
three-master with a Revolutionary record, and also the 

105 



106 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

sloop Lady Washington, to aid in carrying the furs 
to be bought of the Indians. 

A medal struck in the year 1787 shows the two 
ships under full sail, with the Stars and Stripes spread 
to the wind over the stern of the Columbia. The re- 
verse of this medal gives the names of J. Barrell, S. 
Brown, C. Bulfinch, J. Darby, C. Hatch and J. M. 
Pintard, as the members of the group of backers of 
the plan. Bulfinch later became famous in another 
way, as the architect of the Boston State House. 

On Monday, October 1, 1787, the Columbia and 
the Lady Washington, commanded by John Kendrick 
of Wareham, Mass., and Robert Gray of Tiverton, 
R. I., sailed from Nantasket Roads, near Boston Har- 
bor, loaded with knives, iron bars, copper pans, 
blankets and other material for barter with the Indians 
of the Pacific coast. All went well with the two ves- 
sels on their voyage until they were in the South At- 
lantic when a violent hurricane separated them. The 
Lady Washington was ahead when they were well on 
their way up the Pacific coast of South America, and 
she reached Nootka Sound on September 16, 1788. 
The Columbia joined her there on September 22nd 
or 23rd. 

All through the winter, the two vessels lay at an- 
chor in the Sound. On July 30, 1789, Captain Gray, 
now in the Columbia, set sail to cross the Pacific, with 
Old Glory fluttering in the wind. On December 6 he 
reached Canton, China. Then, with the bow of the 
Columbia pointing south, he skirted the East African 
coast and rounded the Cape of Good Hope. His track, 
from that day on, was north to Boston, where he 



FLAG GOES ROUND THE WORLD 107 

dropped anchor on August 10, 1780. The Stars and 
Stripes had gone around the world for the first time 
in history. 

But Robert Gray was to be the dominant figure in 
a cruise of far greater importance to the United States 
and the Flag, than the carrying of Old Glory around 
the globe. The call of the Northwest drew Gray to 
sea again, after a few weeks ashore. On September 28, 
1790, he left Boston in the Columbia, sailed south, 
doubled the Horn, turned north, and at length found 
himself again off the coast where Vancouver Island 
now lies on the map. 

And now for a fragment of history in which ap- 
pear the flags of Great Britain and the United States, 
with the banner of Spain dim in the background. For 
years, ever since the Spaniards groped along the great 
barrier of the west coast of North America, seeking 
a passage through to the Atlantic, charts had shown 
such a waterway or hinted at one in vague pencilings. 
Two Englishmen, Meares and Vancouver, were off 
that coast with Gray, and the three men frequently 
compared notes. All three suspected that a river 
emptied into the sea at some point within the range 
of their cruisings. 

Meares was deceived by the old Spanish charts, 
which showed a river under the name of St. Roque. 
He gave permanent record of his failure to find it in 
the Straits of Juan de Fuca, when he placed these 
names on a chart of the region, Cape Disappointment 
and Deception Bay. Vancouver actually sailed past 
the mouth of the Columbia River, which was practically 



108 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

hidden by a barrier of shoals. In his journal he wrote 
that "the surf has been constantly seen from the mast- 
head to break on the shores." Vancouver mistook the 
breakers on the bars at the mouth of the Columbia for 
coastal surf. 

Meares, Vancouver and Gray did not know that 
an Empire thirty-two times the size of Massachusetts 
was at stake, that it was but a question of a few days 
when the Yankee was to give the Stars and Stripes 
the right of way to the vast Oregon country. Van- 
couver's entry in his log-book or journal, in which he 
speaks of the "surf constantly seen from the mast- 
head," bears the date April 29, 1792. On the after- 
noon of that day, Gray and Vancouver met and com- 
pared notes. Then they parted, the Englishman and 
his Union Jack sailing north, and the American and 
his Old Glory sailing south. 

On May 11, 1792, Gray was off the mouth of the 
mysterious river. With splendid courage, he ran in 
under full sail between the churning, surging breakers, 
the Red, White and Blue of his pennant snapping over 
the white-green waters. Ten miles up the river he 
anchored. A few days later he went fifteen miles fur- 
ther inland with his ship. At the end of nine days, 
he sailed out into the Pacific, leaving the name of his 
ship, Columbia, forever associated with the great river 
of his discovery. 

Captain Robert Gray opened a new and glorious 
chapter in the history of his country and the Stars 
and Stripes, when he gave the United States a basis 
for claim to the Oregon country. Lewis and Clark, 



FLAG GOES ROUND THE WORLD 109 

carrying Flags with them, in 1805 completed the ar- 
gument for possession. Their great adventure will 
give us the theme for another episode in the Story of 
Old Glory. 



XX 

The Flag Supplants the Tricolor Over 
Louisiana 

THE years from 1792 to 1803 are almost barren 
of events that give prominence to our Flag. In 
1795, Vermont and Kentucky were admitted to the 
Union as States, and Old Glory became a Flag of fif- 
teen stripes and fifteen stars. Throughout the vitally 
critical period that ranged from 1795 to 1818, the 
fifteen-striped Flag flashed through the storms of three 
wars, appeared on the horizons of remote seas, crossed 
prairies and braved the winds of mountain crests on 
the first march of the pioneer to the Pacific. It was 
the Flag of New Orleans, of Lewis and Clark, of 
Eaton's "Army of Northern Africa," of the Chesa- 
peake^ of Perry's victory on Lake Erie, of Fort Mc- 
Henry, and of the Essex and the Constitution. 

The scene now shifts from the surf-smitten coast 
where the Columbia enters the Pacific, to New Orleans 
where the Mississippi glides by to the Gulf of Mexico. 
Yet the two localities are linked inseparably in the 
Story of Old Glory. The appearance of the Flag on 
tide-waters of the Columbia was followed in history 
by its unfurling in New Orleans, in evidence that the 
United States had assumed control of the huge terri- 

110 



FLAG SUPPLANTS TRICOLOR in 

tory that was eventually to sweep, without an alien 
flag within its confines, from the Mississippi to the 
Pacific. 

The raising of the Stars and Stripes in New Orleans, 
in 1803, was an incident in a dramatic story of many 
incidents. Four nations were concerned in the series 
of events: Spain, France and the United States, ac- 
tively, and Great Britain as an interested onlooker 
and friend of our country, ready to block with her 
fleet and her guns any sinister move by France. For 
Napoleon had been plotting to set the Tricolor over 
the tremendous region between the great river and 
the Rockies, and give France a subject-dominion in 
America that should balance England's India in Asia. 

Strangely enough, the story of the three dominant 
flags in this bit of history comes to a climax in the 
space of a few days, even hours, in a single square in 
New Orleans. On the 30th of November, 1803, the 
Spanish authorities transferred their colony to Laus- 
sat, the resident French agent. An appropriate cere- 
mony was planned, the arrival of Napoleon's repre- 
sentative, General Victor, was expected, and every one, 
as we are told in an old chronicle, had his cockade of 
tricolor ready to stick in his hat as soon as the flag 
of Spain was lowered and the Tricolor of France was 
raised. 

Then came in the fine hand of the power we term 
Destiny. Old Glory was to spoil the tableau for the 
Tricolor. Thomas Jefferson, acting through his agents, 
Livingston and Monroe, in Paris, had purchased on 
April 30, 1803, not alone New Orleans but one mil- 
lion square miles in the very heart of the continent. 



112 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

And the price was fifteen million dollars ; fifteen round 
silver coins for each square mile. The fact of this 
amazing sale was not known, or announced, until late 
in the year; but Laussat knew that the ceremony of 
November 30 was empty of all real meaning. He had 
big plans for Louisiana, and the news that General 
Wilkinson and Governor Claiborne, of Mississippi, 
were on their way to take from him the keys to an 
Empire, must have been a sad piece of information. 

On that historic December 30, 1803, the open space 
in New Orleans, "then a parade ground for an army," 
had at its center a tall, imposing flagstaff. During the 
morning, the Tricolor fluttered from the top of this 
staff. The French military officers and soldiers were 
grouped about it, and around them was a curiously 
variegated crowd, as one writer describes it, "human 
faces, eagerly looking up in the bright December sun, 
a motley of color and expression, white, yellow, red, 
Frenchman, Spaniard, African, mulatto, Indian, and,, 
most visible of all by his height and boisterous triumph 
on the occasion, the tall, lanky Westerner, in coon- 
skin cap and leathern hunting shirt." 

When the commissioners appeared, the Tricolor be- 
gan to flutter gently down, and the great new Flag, 
the Stars and Stripes, to mount the staff. As the two 
flags passed each other, they paused for a moment. A 
cannon was fired, and all the guns in New Orleans, on 
fort, battery and ships, answered in salute. As the 
last faint echo died away, Old Glory was streaming 
from the top of the staff. An old record tells us that 
"a group of Americans, who stood at the corner of the 
square, waved their hats in token of respect for their 



FLAG SUPPLANTS TRICOLOR 113 

country's flag, and a few of them greeted it with their 
voices." 

We have given this raising of the Stars and Stripes 
at New Orleans in December, 1803, considerable 
space, and for two reasons. It marked a definite, tre- 
mendous step in our history as a People, and it was 
most rich in the color of romance. So we present a 
last final scene, in tribute to our great friend of to-day, 
France. When the Tricolor was sent to the tip of the 
staff at New Orleans, on November 30, 1903, a little 
group of French veterans formed themselves into a 
guard of honor, to act as a sort of death-watch for their 
beloved standard. On December 30 they stood at the 
base of the staff, and took the Tricolor in their arms 
as it came down to them. Then they marched away 
in silence, led by their sergeant bearing the flag. Every 
one uncovered as it went past, and the United States 
troops presented arms. 



XXI 

Old Glory Goes Overland to the Pacific 

THERE was at Washington, in 1803, in the Pres- 
ident's chair, a man who, like his great predeces- 
sor, George Washington, had an eye to the West. Both 
men were far-visioned, and saw that the roads of the 
Future for their country lay toward the setting sun. 
But Thomas Jefferson's vision, stimulated by the Lou- 
isiana Purchase, swept to the ranges of the Rockies, 
questioning, wondering what lay between the Mis- 
sissippi and that mighty barrier, and even what was 
to be found on the slopes beyond, that fell to the 
Pacific. He was instant in his purpose. He decided 
to equip and send out an exploring expedition to cross 
the "Stony Mountains," as the Rockies were then 
called, and to go down the "nearest river" to the west- 
ern sea. With all his imaginative reach of thought, 
Jefferson little dreamed what a conquest he had in 
store for the Stars and Stripes. 

When Congress appropriated the money required 
to finance Jefferson's project, he at once chose his 
private secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead the party 
of explorers. Lewis asked Captain William Clark of 
the United States Army to go with him as second in 
command. When all was ready, the expedition was 
made up of the two leaders and twenty-six men. Nine 

114 



OLD GLORY GOES OVERLAND 115 

of the party, from Kentucky, were accustomed to fron- 
tier life among the Indians. Add to them fourteen 
soldiers from the Army, who volunteered, two French 
voyageurs or watermen, one of whom could act as in- 
terpreter among the Indians, and one negro, and you 
have the complete roster of Lewis and Clark's little 
band. 

We cannot give space to an exhaustive statement of 
their purposes. They were to get Old Glory through 
to the Pacific, through a wilderness and over moun- 
tains never before crossed by Americans. They were 
to observe the natives and record their customs while 
on the way, and they were to note the flora, fauna and 
geological structure of the country traversed. Among 
the articles carried as gifts to the Indians, were gilt 
braid, red trousers, medals and United States Flags. 
As their journey, in its first stages, was to be up the 
Missouri River, they were given three boats, the largest 
being a fifty-five foot keel-boat. 

Now open your geography and see where California 
borders on Oregon. Jefferson could not send Lewis 
and Clark to the Pacific by the most direct route, by 
way of the Platte River, through the South Pass of 
the Rocky Mountains, by great Salt Lake and down 
the valley of the Humboldt, crossing the Sierra Neva- 
das at some point that led into the valley of the Sac- 
ramento; for that road led straight into California 
then under the golden banner of Spain. What he had 
in mind was the Columbia River which, by right of 
Gray's discovery in 1792, gave the United States claim 
to the territory it drained. If his twenty-eight men 
could go up the Missouri to its headwaters, and then 



n6 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

strike directly west, through a mountain pass or over 
a crest, they might reach the sources of the Columbia 
and follow the river down to the coast. They could 
carry Old Glory thousands of miles, always in the 
territory of the United States; and they could bring 
home, if they ever returned, some few pages of re- 
liable information from a big book of American Nature 
never before unfolded. 

Jefferson feared that Lewis and Clark, and their 
party, might be marooned on the Pacific coast or so 
shattered by exposure and struggles with the Indians 
that they could not hope to retrace their steps. He 
gave these significant instructions: "Our Consuls, 
Thomas Hewes at Batavia in Java, William Buchanan 
in the Isles of France and Bourbon, and John Emslie 
at the Cape of Good Hope, will be able to supply your 
necessities by drafts on us." In other words, if a tat- 
tered Old Glory and a camp of ragged United States 
explorers on a strip of the shores of the Pacific, were 
sighted by men under the Union Jack or some other 
flag, they could be transferred by sea to some Asiatic 
or African port where they could find aid from Eng- 
lishmen or Frenchmen. 

On Monday, May 21, 1804, the party set out from 
a point opposite St. Louis to go up the Missouri to 
its source. We must neglect any account of the many 
instances of heroism shown and the really dramatic 
situations met by Lewis and Clark and their com- 
rades. We are interested wholly with the part the 
American Flag played in their journey. They had a 
keen sense of their duty in leaving the impress of the 
Flag on all the land crossed. It was appropriate th^t 



OLD GLORY GOES OVERLAND 117 

on July 4, 1804, the Missouri River heard for the first 
time the firing of guns celebrating an anniversary of 
the Declaration of Independence, and incidentally giv- 
ing tribute to Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the great 
document and was the originator of the plan of their 
expedition. 

The journal of Lewis and Clark is punctuated with 
brief flag-episodes. On August 3, 1804, chiefs of the 
Ottoes, Missouris and Pawnees came in to camp for 
conference: "The great chief of the nation not being 
of the party, we sent him a flag," says the record of 
the expedition. This gift of a Stars and Stripes to an 
Indian chief occurred at the place where Council Bluffs 
stands to-day. 

If we go on up the Missouri to Yankton, South 
Dakota, we are at the spot where the Sioux and the 
white men met for a grand council under an oak tree, 
from the top of which streamed an Old Glory. Sep- 
tember 25th found the expedition at the junction of 
the Teton and the Missouri Rivers where, as the jour- 
nal says, "we raised a flagstaff. After this we went 
through the ceremony of acknowledging the chiefs, by 
giving to the grand chief a medal, a flag of the United 
States, a laced uniform coat, a cocked hat and feather." 

On October 10, when Lewis and Clark were in what 
is now the famous Deadwood mining district of the 
Black Hills, South Dakota, and three days' journey 
south from Spring River, they held another meeting 
with the Indians. Again we quote from the journal: 
"We then acknowledged three chiefs, one for each of 
the three villages ; giving to each a flag, a medal, a red 
coat, a cocked hat and feather." It is a pity that no 



n8 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

modern motion-picture man could have been with 
Lewis and Clark. Those Indians, togged out in their 
new finery, would have made a rare picture. 

Winter was coming down on the little band as they 
were in the region of modern North Dakota. Before 
selecting the place for winter quarters, Lewis and Clark 
summoned to council the chiefs of the neighboring 
tribes, the Mandans, the Annahaways and the Minne- 
tarees. Once more the Flag figured. "One chief of 
each town," says the faithful journal, "was acknowl- 
edged by a gift of a flag, a medal with a likeness of 
the President of the United States, a uniform coat, 
hat and feather." The camp of the expedition for 
the winter of 1804-5 was in modern McLean County, 
North Dakota, sixteen hundred miles up the Missouri 
from St. Louis. On Christmas day, "the American 
flag was hoisted on the fort and saluted with a volley 
of musketry." 

The winter was a breathing-spell for a plunge into 
the unknown. The country previously covered by 
Lewis and Clark was not wholly a terra incognita, as 
trappers and hunters had come down stream with re- 
ports that gave some idea of its nature. But the land 
to be explored was to see in the Stars and Stripes the 
first bit of bunting of any nation ever unfurled in its 
deeps. We hurry on in our story, though tempted to 
give more of this historic, epochal trailmaking the full 
recounting it deserves. We come to the date May 26, 
1805. On that day, Captain Lewis climbed a high 
hill on the north side of the Missouri, and saw the 
sunlight gleaming on the snowy summits of the Rocky 
Mountains fully fifty miles away. The sight fired 



OLD GLORY GOES OVERLAND 119 

him and his little party. It gave them renewed strength 
in pulling and tugging their boats up rapids and over 
shoals. 

We are now at a point in their journey that gives 
us a picturesque scene. It was the middle of July, 
1805. Lewis and Clark were going through that great 
gap in the hills where, as they wrote, "for five and 
three-quarter miles these rocks rise perpendicularly 
from the water's edge to the height of nearly twelve 
hundred feet." They called this portal the "Gates of 
the Rocky Mountains." Picture, if you can, the little 
band moving into those stupendous gates with the 
Stars and Stripes showing its Red, White and Blue 
against "the black granite near the base/' In the last 
days of July, the party was at the foot of the narrow 
rampart that divides Idaho from Montana on our 
maps of to-day. Just beyond them, over this range, 
were the springs that give the streams that flow into 
the Columbia River. 

An American Flag was given to the Shoshones on 
August 13, 1805, not far from the place where the 
boats were abandoned and canoes substituted as means 
of transportation. In a few days, the expedition 
crossed the divide, and Old Glory was at a point 
where, as one writer says, "one can imagine a tiny 
drop of water falling from the clouds and being di- 
vided by the upturned edge of a leaf, the one half 
finding its way to the Atlantic Ocean by way of the 
Missouri, the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, 
the other flowing into the Pacific by way of the Co- 
lumbia River." To state this feat of nature in terms 
of this our history, one half of that drop of water 



120 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

might go on to New Orleans, where the Stars and 
Stripes supplanted the Tricolor, and the other half 
to the raging surf of the Pacific, where the Stars and 
Stripes dared destruction to find a river that was to 
be forever one of its great waterways. 

Eventually Lewis and Clark got to the upper 
reaches of the Columbia, and in canoes went down it 
to the Pacific. Under the date, November 8, 1805, 
we have this triumphant bit of record: "Great joy 
in camp. We are in view of the Ocean, this great 
Pacific Ocean which we have been so anxious to see, 
and the roaring or noise made by the waves breaking 
on the rocky shores may be heard distinctly." 

On December 3, 1805, Clark carved on the trunk 
of a great pine tree this inscription: 

Wm Clark December 3D 1805 

By Land from the U. States 

in 1804 & 5. 

The Stars and Stripes had gone overland to the Pa- 
cific, through country that was to be carved into the 
magnificent States of Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Ne- 
braska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, 
Idaho, Oregon and Washington. 



XXII 

The Flag Floats Over an African Fortress 

IT is a long flight from the Pacific shore at the 
mouth of the Columbia River to the Mediter- 
ranean coast of Northern Africa. At the very time 
Lewis and Clark were carrying the Flag through our 
western country, Old Glory was settling a number of 
scores with the pirates of Tripoli, and the story of 
this squaring of accounts is spiced with spectacular 
incidents. During the closing years of the eighteenth 
century, the Algerians preyed upon our commerce. We 
were practically without a navy, and the only way 
to obtain immunity was to pay good gold to the rob- 
bers. In 1798, as a part of the tribute to Algiers, 
and in way of penalty for delay in making the pay- 
ment, the United States sent as a present to the Dey 
the frigate Crescent and gifts to the value of three 
hundred thousand dollars. 

This concession to the Algerians awoke jealousy in 
the small minds of their neighbors, the Tripolitans, 
who complained because "the Sahib-Tuppa at 
Tunis had received more than forty thousand dollars 
from the United States in cash besides presents." As 
the reply from Washington was slow in reaching him, 
the Bashaw of Tripoli deposed the American consul 
and cut down the consulate flag. If ever the United 

121 



122 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

States needed a man on the ground when the Stars 
and Stripes was an object of insult, it was then and 
there, at some spot within the borders of the pirate 
States. 

In July, 1797, General William Eaton was ap- 
pointed "consul to the city and kingdom of Tunis." 
He was instructed to alter the existent United States 
treaty with Tunis. We quote from Eaton's auto- 
biography: "Objection was also made by the Senate 
to some other parts of the treaty; especially the pro- 
vision that a barrel of gunpowder should be paid the 
Tunisian government for the firing of every gun of 
a Tunisian fort saluting American armed vessels enter- 
ing their harbors ; the number of guns for a salute be- 
ing left to the pleasure of those saluting." This pro- 
vision meant that, every time an armed ship of the 
United States entered a harbor of Tunis with the 
Stars and Stripes displayed at the maintruck, those 
crafty rascals could fire just as many guns in way of 
salute as they saw fit, and claim from Uncle Sam a 
fine big barrel of gunpowder in return for each gun 
discharged. 

Now that business of the gunpowder, together with 
sundry other acts of pure plunder, was highly in ac- 
cord with the character and the conduct of the men 
of Northern Africa. It was not in harmony with 
the ideas of William Eaton, Connecticut Yankee, 
graduate of Dartmouth College and soldier of for- 
tune. Eaton had in him qualities that make a suc- 
cessful line-plunging half-back, and his story, told in 
his own words, is full of what we modern Americans 
call "pep." There was much trouble for Northern 



OVER AN AFRICAN FORTRESS 123 

Africa on the ship Sophia that sailed from the 
United States with General William Eaton on board 
as consul to Tunis. 

In relating the story of the Stars and Stripes, Eaton 
and the Tunisians and Tripolitans, we can do no bet- 
ter than to cling pretty closely to his narrative, as 
found in his autobiography. Immediately after his 
arrival in Africa, there began a series of adroit fenc- 
ing matches in diplomacy. On March 15, 1799, 
Eaton met the Bey of Tunis. "After taking coffee,' ' 
Eaton tells us, "he began to interrogate me." 

"Is your vessel a vessel of war?" 

"Yes." 

"Why was not I duly informed of it, that you 
might have been saluted, as is customary?" 

"We were unacquainted with the customs." 

Now note this little sidenote in the autobiography, 
which illustrates this whole incident in the passage of 
wits: "True cause, we did not choose to demand a 
salute which would cost the United States eight hun- 
dred dollars." 

William Eaton saw at once that the Stars and 
Stripes was receiving a double insult. There was the 
intention of browbeating the United States, and there 
was a demand for a salute that was sheer extortion 
in dollars and cents and not a decent, honorable rec- 
ognition of one nation by another through an inter- 
change of salutes to their flags. So we read, with 
growing interest, this brief account of a later meeting, 
which opened with much haggling. After an hour 
or more of empty talk, "I was introduced to his (the 
Bey's) apartment," says Eaton. "A few words 



124 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

passed between us. He got into a passion, arose and 
left the hall, but turned, going out, and said, 'Consult 
your government. I give them six months to give me 
an answer, and to send the presents. If they come 
in that time, well; if not, take down your flag and 
go home !' " 

Eaton's temper came right up to the top. Old 
Glory had been sneered at, ridiculed by a cheap little 
beggar on a strip of African sand. He wrote to Wash- 
ington at once. In his letter he said, among other 
plainly spoken words, "Too many concessions have 
been made. There is but one language which can be 
held to these people, and this is terror." The letter 
closes with, "The United States have no messenger 
whom I would greet with so much cordiality with an 
answer as Commodore Barry." William Eaton de- 
sired greatly to see the Stars and Stripes waving over 
the black muzzles of a row of cannon on an American 
frigate, with those guns pointed at the pirate's palace. 

Picture this Connecticut Yankee counting on his 
fingers the names of the American ships that carried 
Old Glory past Gibraltar in the spring of 1799. 
Eighty of them ! And every one of them was in dan- 
ger of being taken and having its Old Glory destroyed 
or thrown into the sea. He looks down from the wall 
where he is sitting, upon the Mediterranean, and sees 
the harmless little ship, the Sophia, that had brought 
him from the United States, riding at anchor. He 
speaks of her that day in his journal, as "the little 
Sophia disguised in men's clothes." He wants a fight, 
and lacks weapons with which to fight. 

At last there came a day when Eaton set down in 



OVER AN AFRICAN FORTRESS 125 

a letter to Washington some plain facts as to condi- 
tions in the Mediterranean as they concerned the Stars 
and Stripes: 

"France has no commerce exposed. Spain can defend her- 
self by assistance of auxiliaries drawn from her mines. 
Portugal, tho' a lady, speaks with a manly tone to these 
pirates; she dictates to them under their own batteries. Den- 
mark and Sweden have frigates in these seas; Holland has 
no commerce here. Tunis is robbed of her prey, and is as 
restless as a bear. Plunder must be had. Where is it to be 
found? America presents it. But Tunis is at peace with 
America. Necessity has no law. A pretext is found for a 
declaration of war in our delinquency ; or delay in sending out 
the stipulated regalia (present of jewels). The commerce in 
this sea will fall the victim to these starving robbers." 

But Jefferson and Congress did not move then. Ea- 
ton, single-handed, "acted with so much boldness and 
tact that he secured for his country the freedom of its 
commerce from attacks by the Tunisian cruisers," as 
an historian tells us. In 1803, he returned to the 
United States and was appointed naval agent for the 
Barbary States. He accompanied the American fleet 
sent to the Mediterranean in 1804, with Decatur, 
Hull and other young officers soon to become house- 
hold names in the United States. All schoolboys who 
have read the history of this country know the records 
of our little fleet at Tripoli. The burning of the Phil- 
adelphia has furnished a classic incident for our text- 
books. Yet, for all the heroism shown, three years' 
experience proved that a blockade merely protected 
in part our commerce. Blackmail was still a condi- 



126 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

tion of peace. And you cannot besmirch the American 
Flag with blackmail. 

Now steps on the stage a new commander in the 
United States fleet in the Mediterranean, Samuel Bar- 
ron, with our friend William Eaton. The latter's 
supreme adventure of 1805, as Henry Adams assures 
us, was so "daring, so romantic and even Quixotic, 
that for at least half a century every boy in America 
listened to the story with the same delight with which 
he read the Arabian Nights." This story gives us one 
of Old Glory's greatest exploits. 

William Eaton, to tell the truth, had no real au- 
thority to act in a military capacity when he arrived 
in the Mediterranean; so, when he abruptly left Bar- 
ron and sailed to Malta, where he arrived on September 
5, 1804, he was off on a vagabond crusade on his own 
hook. But he had a big idea. He intended to play 
Hamet Caramelli, the exiled rightful Bey of Tripoli, 
against Yusuf the usurper. He planned to raise an 
army under the Stars and Stripes and march with Ha- 
met to besiege Derna, the eastern capital of Tripoli. 
A plan for joint operations was made with Commander 
Barron, and the hour to strike had come. 

On March 3, 1805, at a place called the Arab's 
Tower, about forty miles southwest of Alexandria, 
Egypt, the Stars and Stripes fluttered over the most 
"strangely assorted force that ever marched and fought 
under its shadow." General William Eaton must have 
smiled as he reviewed his "Army of Northern Africa." 
The cream of this army was a little group of seven 
United States marines, led by Lieutenant O'Bannon. 
The remainder were Greeks, Tripolitans and Arab 



OVER AN AFRICAN FORTRESS 127 

camel-drivers ; in all, about four hundred men. Hamet 
was set on a camel and told to come along. 

For days this polyglot band of real fighters mixed 
with booty-seekers, toiled across the Desert of Barca, 
with the sun at 120 F. for hours at a time. Henry 
Adams, in his admirable history, affirms that "without 
discipline, cohesion, or sources of supply, even with- 
out water for days, their march was a sort of miracle.' ' 
Where is the artist to give us a picture of Old Glory 
at the head of this ragamuffin regiment? 

On April 14, the "Army of Northern Africa" 
reached Bomba, where ships from the American fleet 
were to meet them. To Eaton's consternation, no 
ships were in sight. We cannot improve on his auto- 
biography at this crisis: "I went off with my Chris- 
tians, and kept up fires upon a high mountain in our 
rear all night. At eight the next morning, at the in- 
stant when our camp was about breaking up, the 
Pasha's casnadar, Zaid, who had ascended the moun- 
tain for a last look-out, discovered a sail I It was the 
Argus. Captain Hull had seen our smokes, and stood 
in. Language is too poor to paint the joy and exulta- 
tion which this messenger of life excited in every 
breast." 

Supplies were furnished from the Argus and, on 
April 25, 1805, the "Army of Northern Africa," with 
General William Eaton and Old Glory at its head, 
moved on Derna. The town was held by a garrison 
of eight hundred men, who had made earthworks and 
cut loopholes through the terraces and walls for mus- 
ket-fire. On April 27, Eaton sent in a flag of truce. 
It came back with the message, "My head, or yours." 



128 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

Preparations for an assault were at once made. Three 
United States vessels, the Hornet, the Nautilus and 
the Argus, each flying Old Glory, anchored off the 
town, the first within pistol-shot of the Tripolitan bat- 
teries. All three opened fire. 

Late in the afternoon, Eaton ordered his marines 
under Lieutenant O'Bannon, now reenforced by ma- 
rines from the three ships, to storm the fortifications. 
He, in person, led one body of his little army on one 
side of Derna, while the marines came in from the 
shore. They were met by a murderous fire. Eaton 
was badly wounded. But the man who had sworn to 
avenge the insults to his Flag, and had marched with 
it across five hundred miles of desert, was not daunted. 
He placed himself at the very front and charged across 
a plain swept by musket-fire. 

During this struggle, O'Bannon and his marines 
had stormed the fort and, in a perfect whirlwind of 
bullets, had turned the cannon on the Tripolitans and 
hoisted the Stars and Stripes over a bastion where the 
pirate banner had streamed. For the first time in his- 
tory, the Stars and Stripes had been raised over a 
fortress of the Old World. 

And so, during the month when two American ex- 
plorers were carrying Old Glory to the base of the 
eastern wall of a western mountain range in North 
America, an impetuous little body of United States 
marines, with a self-made Yankee commander, were 
storming the front of a fortification in North Africa, 
to plant the Stars and Stripes upon it as a warning 
that no man or nation can attempt with impunity to 
impose upon the United States and her Flag. 



XXIII 

The Stars and Stripes Seeks the Source of 
the Mississippi 

ON August 9, 1805, a little over a year after the 
day when Lewis and Clark set out from St. 
Louis to go up the Missouri, a young officer in the 
United States Army, Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike, started 
from the same city, then a straggling town, to go up 
the Mississippi and seek its source. Pike was about 
twenty-five years old when he captained this adven- 
ture of the Stars and Stripes, and, to judge from his 
journal, was in many ways better equipped mentally 
for an exploring expedition into wild and unknown 
country than was Lewis or Clark. His journal re- 
veals some ability to write interesting and grammati- 
cal prose. A quaint touch of color appears in the leaves 
of his record as he tells us of hours passed in study 
and in reading. Here are a few entries: "Refreshed 
my memory as to French grammar;" "Read and la- 
bored at our works;" "Read Pope's Essays." One day's 
entry is compressed into a single word, "Studying." 
While in the dead of winter near the source of the 
Mississippi, Pike read, a part of it probably by candle 
light, Volney's "Egypt." The fields of ice and snow 
around him must have thrown a strange background 
against the tropic splendor of the Nile that took shape 
in his imagination. 

129 



130 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

On August 20, 1805, the little party of twenty-one 
men in their seventy-foot boat "arrived at the rapids 
of De Moyen" (Des Moines). "We had passed," 
says Pike, "the first and most difficult shoals, when 
we were met by Mr. Wm. Ewing with a French in- 
terpreter, four chiefs and fifteen men of the Sac nation, 
in their canoes, bearing the flag of the United States." 

On the following day, August 21, 1805, Pike ad- 
dressed the Sac nation. We give a part of his little 
speech, the portion in which he defines one phase of 
Jefferson's purpose in sending out Lewis and Clark and 
himself. He told the Indians that "their great father, 
the president of the United States, wishing to be more 
intimately acquainted with the situation, wants, etc., 
of the different nations of the red people in our newly 
acquired territory of Louisiana, ordered the general to 
send a number of his young warriors in different di- 
rections, to take them by the hand." Pike made con- 
stant use of the Stars and Stripes in his dealings with 
the Indians. With him, as with Lewis and Clark, it 
carried a message of brotherly friendship, and they 
had little cause to fear injury at the hands of the 
Indians during all the days of their explorations. As 
Henry Whiting, one of Pike's biographers, says, "The 
flag is an emblem that carries with it some moral au- 
thority, even among Indians. He (Pike) made it re- 
spected, and made it exclusive, while he was in the 
Indian country." By "exclusive" Whiting means the 
shutting out of all other national flags from the coun- 
try gained for the Stars and Stripes through the Louisi- 
ana Purchase. 

When Pike and his men were a few miles below the 



FLAG AT SOURCE OF MISSISSIPPI 131 

falls of St. Anthony, a very pretty little drama oc- 
curred, with Old Glory as the principal actor. The 
journal for September 24, 1805, was in great part de- 
voted to the first picture in this playlet. We quote: 
"In the morning I discovered my flag was missing 
from my boat. Being in doubt whether it had been 
stolen by the Indians, or had fallen overboard and 
floated away, I sent for my friend, the Original Love, 
and sufficiently evinced to him, by the vehemence of 
my action, by the immediate punishment of my guard 
(having inflicted on one of them corporeal punish- 
ment) and by sending down the shore three miles in 
search of it, how much I was displeased that such a 
thing should have occurred." 

Later in the day, as a sort of interlude in our little 
play, Pike "sent a flag to the Sioux at the head of the 
St. Peters," undoubtedly following instructions from 
Washington that copied orders to Lewis and Clark, 
directing each body of explorers to see to it that the 
Indians received and were requested to respect the 
Stars and Stripes. 

The curtain rose on September 25, 1805, on the 
second scene in the flag-drama that opened on the 
previous day, that of the lost Old Glory. Pike con- 
tinues, in his journal, as follows, "I was awakened out 
of my bed by Le Petit Corbeau, head chief, who came 
up from the village to see if we were all killed, or 
if any accident had happened to us; this was in con- 
sequence of their having found my flag floating three 
miles below their village (fifteen miles hence), from 
which they concluded some affray had taken place, 
and that it had been thrown overboard. Although I 



132 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

considered this an unfortunate accident for me, I was 
exceedingly happy at its effect; for it was the occasion 
of preventing much bloodshed among the savages." 

"A chief called the Outard Blanche had his lip 
cut off, and had come to Petit Corbeau and told him 
that 'his face was his looking glass, that it was spoiled, 
that he was determined on revenge.' The parties were 
charging their guns and preparing for action, when lo, 
the flag appeared, like a messenger of peace sent to 
prevent their bloody purposes. They were all aston- 
ished to see it: the staff was broke. Then the Petit 
Corbeau arose and spoke to this effect: 'That a thing 
so sacred had not been taken from my boat without 
violence; that it would be proper for them to hush all 
private animosities until they had revenged the cause 
of their eldest brother; that he would immediately go 
up to St. Peters to know what dogs had done that 
thing, in order to take steps to get satisfaction of those 
who had done the mischief.' They all listened to this 
reasoning and he immediately had the flag put out to 
dry and embarked for my camp." 

Third scene, little drama of the lost Old Glory of 
September, 1805. Entry in Pike's journal for the 27th 
of the month: "Two young Indians brought my flag 
across by land, who arrived yesterday, just as we came 
in sight of the falls. I made them a present for their 
punctuality and expedition, and the danger they were 
exposed to from the journey." 

That is a perfectly splendid scene, the moment of 
the arrival of the Flag floating on the Mississippi. We 
invite some painter to give us the angry Indians about 
to open fire with their muskets, and one of them catch- 



FLAG AT SOURCE OF MISSISSIPPI 133 

ing sight of the "messenger of peace," the Stars and 
Stripes rippling by on the surface of the current, and 
swimming out into the river to rescue it. 

In the middle of October, Pike was well up in the 
heart of modern Minnesota, and began the construc- 
tion of his block-house. He was two hundred and 
thirty-three miles above the falls of St. Anthony. 
From there as a base, he made trips of exploration over 
the snow, on sledges and snow-shoes. On New Year's 
Day, 1806, he was in the land of the Chipeways; "My 
interpreter came to me in a great hurry, conjuring me 
not to go so far ahead, and assured me that the Chipe- 
ways, encountering me, without an interpreter, party 
or flag, would certainly kill me." 

Pike's entry for the next day reveals a friendly and 
not a hostile spirit on the side of the Indians: "Fine 
warm day. Discovered fresh signs of Indians. Just 
as we were incamping at night, my sentinel informed 
me that some Indians were coming at full speed upon 
our trail or track. I ordered my men to stand to their 
guns carefully. They were immediately at my camp, 
and saluted the flag by a discharge of three pieces; 
when four Chipeways, one Englishman and a French- 
man of the North West Company, presented them- 
selves. They had heard of us and revered our flag." 

It is a pleasure to give, in this book, permanent rec- 
ord in a history of our Flag of a kindly reception of it 
and its bearers by a British subject, over one hundred 
years ago. On January 3, 1806, Pike wrote, "My 
party marched early, but I returned with Mr. Grant 
to his establishment on the Red Cedar Lake, having 
one corporal with me. When we came in sight of the 



134 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

house, I observed the flag of Great Britain flying. I 
felt indignant and cannot say what my feelings would 
have excited me to, had he not informed me that it 
belonged to the Indians. This was not much more 
agreeable to me." 

Now open the journal to the page with the entry for 
February l. Pike had reached "an establishment of 
the North West Company" and "was received with 
marked attention and hospitality by Mr. Hugh M'Gil- 
lis. Had a good dish of coffee, biscuit, butter and 
cheese for supper." 

This man M'Gillis warms our hearts. He was of 
the same breed that gave North America the intrepid, 
honest Mackenzie, forerunner of the true men of the 
British Northwest of to-day. The Stars and Stripes 
has nothing to fear from such neighbors under the 
Union Jack. "On Feb. 6," adds Pike, "my men ar- 
rived at the fort about four o'clock. Mr. M'Gillis 
asked if I had any objection to his hoisting their flag 
in compliment to ours. I made none, as I had not yet 
expressed to him my ideas." Pike's "ideas" were, of 
course, that Old Glory must fly supreme over that 
region. 

On February 9, 1806, Pike traveled over the snow to 
the station of a Mr. Dickson, on Leech Lake. Here 
is the* succinct account of the event that happened : 
"Hoisted the American flag in the fort. The English 
yacht (jack) still flying at the top of the flagstaff, I 
directed the Indians and my riflemen to shoot at it, 
who soon broke the iron pin to which it was fastened 
and brought it to the ground." 

February 12, 1806, reveals Pike's assurance that he 



FLAG AT SOURCE OF MISSISSIPPI 135 

was at the source of the Mississippi. He says, "This 
may be called the upper source of the Mississippi.' ' He 
was not at the true source. Other men, coming later, 
were to fix the springs of the great river at another 
point. 

Another flag-episode comes into his records on Feb- 
ruary 16, 1806: "Held a council with the chiefs and 
warriors at this place. . . . They generally delivered 
up their flags (British) with a good grace, except the 
Flat Mouth, who said he had left both at his camp, 
three days' march, and promised to deliver them up to 
Mr. M'Gillis to be forwarded." The true-hearted 
Briton knew what was right, though it must have hurt 
him to act as an intermediary in a visible transfer of au- 
thority. He goes out of our book at this stage. Pike, 
his American supplanter, was to die a brigadier gen- 
eral, within a few years, while fighting under the Stars 
and Stripes against his Union Jack. In his last mo- 
ments, a captured British flag was placed under his 
head as a pillow. 

Here is a significant foot-note from Pike's journal: 
"17th. Feb. The chief of the land brought in his flag 
and delivered it up." If England had possessed men 
like you, M'Gillis, in London in that year 1806, the 
insane war of 1812, which was precipitated by insults 
to Old Glory, might never have appeared in history. 

Pike and his party returned in safety to St. Louis, 
but he was not to remain idle. On July 15, 1806, he 
set out again, this time to go up the Missouri, cross 
by land to the Arkansas River, and go up the latter 
stream exploring and meeting the Indians as he ad- 
vanced. With him went two lieutenants, one surgeon, 



136 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

one sergeant, two corporals and sixteen privates. 
There is but one event of this journey that fits into 
this book. Before we embody it in this chapter, we 
give a picture of Pike's mode of approach to a village. 
He says that the party advanced with "Lieutenant 
Wilkinson and myself in front; my sergeant, on a 
white horse, next with the colors." This passage tells 
us very definitely that the Stars and Stripes was to be 
displayed continually. The fact that the Flag that 
floated down the Mississippi in 1805 was on a broken 
staff, proves that it must have been planted either in 
the bow or the stern of the seventy-foot boat. 

In Republican County, modern Kansas, on Septem- 
ber 29, 1806, Pike and his followers "held our grand 
council with the Pawnees, at which were present not less 
than four hundred warriors, the circumstances of which 
were extremely interesting. . . . The Spaniards had 
left several of their flags in their village, one of which 
was unfurled at the chiefs door the day of the grand 
council. Amongst various demands and charges I gave 
them, was that the said flag should be delivered to me 
and one of the United States flags be received and 
hoisted in its place. This probably was carrying the 
pride of nations a little too far, as there had so lately 
been a large force of Spanish cavalry at the village, 
which had made a great impression on the minds of 
the young men, as to their power, consequence, etc., 
which my appearance with the 20th infantry was by 
no means calculated to remove." 

The journal continues as follows: "After the chiefs 
had replied to various parts of my discourse, but were 
silent as to the flag, I again reiterated the demand for 



FLAG AT SOURCE OF MISSISSIPPI 137 

the flag, adding that it was impossible for the nation 
to have two fathers ; that they must either be the chil- 
dren of the Spaniards or acknowledge their 'American 
father.' After a silence of some time, an old man rose, 
went to the door and took down the Spanish flag, and 
brought it and laid it at my feet, and then received the 
American flag and elevated it on the staff which had 
lately borne the standard of his Catholic majesty. 
Perceiving that every face was clouded with sorrow, 
as if some great national calamity was about to befal 
them, I took up the contested colors and told them 
that it was the wish of the Americans that their red 
brethren should remain peacefully around their own 
fires." It is to Pike's credit that he succeeded in 
handling a difficult problem with rare tact. 

This event undoubtedly marked the first raising of 
Old Glory within the borders of what is now the State 
of Kansas. On July 4, 1901, the corner-stone of a 
shaft of granite, twenty-seven feet high, was laid at 
the site of the Pawnee village. The shaft bears this 
inscription : 



Erected by the State of Kansas, 

1901, 

To Mark the Site of the Pawnee Republic, 

Where 

Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike 

Caused the Spanish Flag to be Lowered 

And the Flag of the United States to be Raised, 

September 29, 1806. 



138 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

Zebulon M. Pike left his name on the map of his 
country. On November 15, 1806, he wrote of "a moun- 
tain on our right, which appeared like a small blue 
cloud. . . . Their appearance can easily be imagined 
by those who have crossed the Alleghany, but their sides 
were whiter as if covered with snow.'' That mountain 
on the horizon, "a small blue cloud," is now known as 
"Pike's Peak." 



XXIV 

Discord Among the Three Tricolors 

IN this year 1919, the Stars and Stripes is seen in 
thousands of homes in the United States, flanked 
by the flags of Great Britain and France. A little 
more than a hundred years ago, it was between the 
same two standards, but in the unhappy position of an 
innocent party in danger of being singed in the flames 
that threatened to burn its fellow tricolors. For Eng- 
land and France were at grips, and their struggle con- 
vulsed the commercial world. London tried to shut 
ships flying Old Glory from all French harbors, and 
Paris, through Napoleon's Berlin and Milan Decrees, 
aimed to prevent our Flag on our ships from enter- 
ing British ports. 

How greatly this country was confused by the shift- 
ing shuttles of European politics and entangled Amer- 
ican sympathies, is shown in the attitude of her citi- 
zens. This attitude, or want of concerted purpose, is 
well expressed by Henry Adams: "President Madison 
submitted to Napoleon in order to resist England; the 
New England Federalists preferred submitting to Eng- 
land in order to resist Napoleon ; but not one American 
expected the United States to uphold their national 
rights against the world." 

Few if any historians have realized that our Flag, 

139 



140 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

as a symbol of nationality, came to its own in the 
early years of the last century, and on the sea. All 
ships of all Powers display their colors; for these col- 
ors are the only means of positive identification dis- 
tinctly visible over distances where waters intervene. 
The contest between Napoleon and Great Britain 
spread out to the high seas, became a cut-throat strug- 
gle in commercial blockades. It developed into a prob- 
lem of shutting out even neutrals. The United States 
was a sadly perplexed neutral, and her Flag was to 
surfer exclusion and ignominy in the angry give-and- 
take of the times. For the Flag, being the nation's 
supreme indubitable symbol on the ocean, was the 
watched-for mark of the United States at trade. Im- 
mediately, even as early as 1807, the Stars and Stripes 
became a figure of speech frequent in impassioned ad- 
dresses and in the daily press. 

The affair of the Chesapeake and the Leopard off 
the Virginia coast in 1807, was like a sudden swing- 
ing of a vane turned by a breeze from the sea, indi- 
cating to those inland that there was trouble brewing 
seaward. English sailors had been deserting to Amer- 
ican ships. Admiral George C. Berkeley, of his Britan- 
nic Majesty's fleet in the North Atlantic, said in orders 
to that fleet, in 1807, "Subjects of his Britannic Maj- 
esty, and serving in his ships, deserted — and openly 
paraded in the streets of Norfolk under the American 
flag." This marching of erstwhile English seamen un- 
der Old Glory was considered a rank insult to the 
Union' Jack. On July 29, 1807, Captain Douglas, of 
his Majesty's Service, wrote a letter to the Mayor of 
Norfolk, in which he said, "You must be perfectly 



DISCORD AMONG TRICOLORS 141 

aware that the British flag never has been, nor will be, 
insulted with impunity." 

The guns of the Leopard opening fire on the Ches- 
apeake while practically defenseless, awoke the United 
States to the realization that England meant a busi- 
ness of a sinister nature. The right of search on the 
high seas, even in neutral waters, following a com- 
mand to stand to, was a violation of international law. 
Jefferson, and Madison, his Secretary of State, wrote 
to Monroe in Europe on July 16, 1807, "As a security 
for the future, an entire abolition of impressments from 
vessels under the flag of the United States, if not al- 
ready arranged, is also to make an indispensable part 
of the satisfaction." They had the Chesapeake affair 
in mind. 

England saw in 1807 that trouble between her and 
the United States might arise from the double incite- 
ment of the search of the Chesapeake for deserters, 
after a broadside, and the stifling of American trade 
with European countries through decrees closing ports. 
Yet the general feeling of the day in England was 
expressed in the London Morning Post, in a reference 
of October 23, 1807, to the United States as an "in- 
significant Power" and, in the same paper of a previous 
issue, January 27, 1807, when, with a glance to the 
sea, it uttered the scornful words, "It will never be 
permitted to be said that the Royal Sovereign has 
struck her flag to a Yankee cockboat." 

If England was baiting the United States with 
words and actions, France, under Napoleon, was also 
playing a part of tantalizing mystery and deeds equiv- 
alent to slaps of the American face. Josiah Quincy, 



142 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

of Massachusetts, said in 1808, that "Nature gave the 
ocean to New England." See how Napoleon, in his 
utterances, catered to the Federalists of the northern 
States of the United States. On May 18, 1809, he 
dictated the following: "The seas belong to all nations. 
Every vessel under the flag of any nation whatever, 
recognised and avowed by it, ought to be on the ocean 
as if it were in its own ports. The flag flying from 
the mast of a merchantman ought to be respected as 
though it were on the top of a village steeple. To in- 
sult a merchant-vessel carrying the flag of any Power 
is to make an incursion into a village or a colony be- 
longing to that Power." 

Napoleon may have had France in mind as he dic- 
tated those words, for he knew well how to fling out 
the Tricolor and make it the very living symbol of 
France, but he had New England in the background 
of his thought; for he was preparing a letter to General 
Armstrong, the representative of the United States in 
Paris, and his "village steeple" was a shrewd casting 
of a fly for the New England fish. He had blocked 
England's scheme, if she ever had one, for an Empire 
in the Mississippi Valley, when he closed the Louisiana 
Purchase, and he was maneuvering, in the years that 
immediately preceded the War of 1812, to get Old 
Glory again into a tussle with the Union Jack. On 
December 13, 1811, he wrote, "You will give the as- 
surance that if the American government is decided to 
maintain the independence of its flag, it will find every 
kind of aid and privilege in this country." Napoleon 
often made a flag the symbol of a nation's individual- 
ity. In his address to deputies of the Hanseatic League, 



DISCORD AMONG TRICOLORS 143 

March 17, 181 1, he spoke of "nations that defend their 
sovereignty and maintain the religion of their flag." 

That month of March, 1811, marked Napoleon's 
most direct hint to the United States. In a speech at 
the Tuileries, on the 24th of the month, he said, "I 
consider the flag of a nation as a part of herself. That 
nation must be able to carry it everywhere, or she is 
not free. That nation which does not make her flag 
respected is not a nation in my eyes. The Americans, 
we are going to see what they will do." One report of 
this speech gave this passage: "As for neutral naviga- 
tion, I regard the flag as an extension of territory. The 
Power which lets it be violated cannot be considered 
neutral. The lot of American commerce will soon be 
decided." 

In the closing weeks of 1811, spurred on by that 
young and audacious body of Southern Congressmen 
led by Clay and Calhoun, who were of a generation 
after Madison and Monroe, the United States walked 
up to the brink of war with England. Opposition to 
a declaration of war was bitter in the extreme northern 
group of States. Again we quote Henry Adams, for 
we can find no better authority: "As a force in the 
affairs of Europe, the United States had become an ap- 
pendage to England. The Americans consumed little 
but English manufactures, allowed British ships to 
blockade New York and Chesapeake Bay, permitted 
the British government to keep by force in its naval 
service numbers of persons who were claimed as Amer- 
ican subjects, and to take from American merchant- 
vessels, at its free will, any man who seemed likely 
to be useful." But New England's trade with Eng- 



144 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

land was at stake, and she would not move toward war. 

Yet New England could meet the cards played by 
the South, with her own trumps. War with Great 
Britain was declared on June 18, 1812. On the very 
next day came news of still more "American vessels 
burned by French frigates." A French commodore de- 
clared that "he had orders to burn all American ves- 
sels sailing to or from an enemy's port." As a matter 
of simple fact, the United States had fully as much 
cause to fight France in 1812 as she had to go to war 
with Great Britain. She had even more cause for 
defying Napoleon, for England was rapidly coming to 
a ground of fair and open dealing with this country 
in that year. 

So, in 1812, the three Tricolors fell out. Napoleon 
chuckled in his sleeve when he heard that one more 
Power was arrayed against England. Great Britain 
"felt that Madison had been a tool of Bonaparte, had 
stabbed her in the back." To get a view of the Amer- 
ican attitude, as it concerned the Stars and Stripes, we 
turn once more to Henry Adams : Clay, Calhoun, and 
their associates in Congress, "bent on war with Eng- 
land, were willing to face debt and probable bank- 
ruptcy on the chance of creating a nation, of conquer- 
ing Canada, and carrying the American flag to Mobile 
and Key West," then in foreign hands. 



XXV 

The Stars and Stripes Raised Over a Log 
schoolhouse 

EARLY in May, 1812, Massachusetts chose a legis- 
lature more strongly Federalist, or supposedly 
pro-British, than any one dared to predict. The old 
Bay State, a military backbone of the French and In- 
dian wars and the Revolution, was in the distressing 
position of a province at odds with the nation. Were 
it not for her splendid record on the Canadian frontier, 
shown in the heroism of her enlisted men, and her 
connection with the frigates Constitution and Essex and 
many privateers, she would have stood shamed when 
the War of 1812 came to its close. 

Yet Massachusetts gave the United States, in 1812, 
one remarkable, spontaneous proof of fealty. The in- 
cident we are about to relate was one of those unher- 
alded but natural evidences of fine patriotism that 
often come from the hearts of a people acting inde- 
pendently, without the counsel of their rulers and wise 
men. In May, 1812, Old Glory went to the top of 
"a pine staff" over a log schoolhouse on Catamount 
Hill, Colrain, in the heart of Massachusetts. It is 
generally believed that this home-made Flag was the 
first Stars and Stripes to float over a schoolhouse in 
the United States. 

H5 



146 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

The women of Colrain, forerunners of the women 
of the North who, in countless cities, towns and vil- 
lages, sewed stripes and squares and stars, of red, 
white and blue into Flags in 1861, were the inspiring 
figures at the center of this event. Mrs. Rhoda Shippee 
gave the cloth for the stars and the white stripes. Mrs. 
Lois Shippee contributed the blue cloth for the Union. 
But tradition hesitates between Mrs. Alden Willis and 
Mrs. Stephen Hale, as the donor of the cloth for the 
red stripes. And those loyal women wove the fabric 
for the Old Glory of Colrain on their looms in their 
homes. 

A man comes into the story in the person of Amasa 
Shippee who "marked out the stars with compass and 
square," and went "down to the Pine Swamp" to cut 
a staff from good old New England growth. Within 
a few months, he was to be one of the five men from 
Catamount Hill who marched away to fight for the 
Stars and Stripes, who were true blue when so much 
of Massachusetts was tinged with British red. 

The whole story is American in its atmosphere. 
The final picture of that Flag of the hearthfires going 
to the top of its pine staff over a rough log school- 
house, with the waving pines in the background, and 
with a little group of men, their wives, and their boys 
and girls barefooted and in homespun, is one that de- 
serves perpetuation in a painting by an American art- 
ist. 

On June 3, 1903, the Catamount Hill Association 
erected a monument in honor of the event of May, 
1812, on the spot where the little log schoolhouse stood 
one hundred years ago. 



XXVI 

The Flag on the Sea in the War of 1812 

ONE of our most reliable historians divides the 
years of our history from 1776 to 1812, into 
periods of twelve years' duration. The first ended in 
1788, with the adoption of the Constitution. The 
Flag had won a compact of federation for its original 
States of the thirteen stripes and stars. The second 
closed with the year 1800, which date marked low 
tide, a recession of the current of national purpose, 
with the Flag struggling for firm ground on a rock- 
bed of clean-cut nationality. The third period saw 
a declaration of war with England, and Madison 
throwing "forward the flag of the country, sure that 
the people would press onward and defend it," al- 
though the nation was split into opposing camps. 

As the War of 1812 was forced by repressions of 
American commerce and infringements of American 
rights of the individual on the sea, it at once assumed 
the form of a struggle to maintain inviolate the free- 
dom of the Stars and Stripes on the ocean. A full 
month before war was declared, an American frigate 
had answered England's insult to the ensign of the 
Chesapeake, of 1807, in a decisive manner. On the 
evening of May 16, 1812, Captain Rodgers, in the 
President, while off Cape Charles, sighted a ship which 

147 



148 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

he took to be the British Guerriere, on which was sup- 
posed to be an American seaman recently impressed 
by the English. He made sail in pursuit, and, just 
after dusk, came near enough to hail. At 8.30, the 
President rounded to within pistol-shot. Each ship 
ran out "every gun in the broadside." 

Rodgers' hail, "What ship is that?" was answered 
by a flash and a ball that hit the mainmast of the 
President. What happened then is best told in a 
statement made by Rodgers after the action — note how 
he makes the Flag the keynote — "Equally determined 
not to be the aggressor or suffer the flag of my country 
to be insulted with impunity, I gave a general order 
to fire." A shattering volley smote the Englishman. 
The action was brief, and the President's opponent 
soon lay helpless, in distress. She was the English 
corvette the Little Belt. 

There was much controversy between the United 
States and Great Britain over this affair, and we find 
Old Glory figuring in the report of Captain Bingham 
of the Little Belt, when he says, "At 6.30, finding he 
gained so considerably on us as not to be able to elude 
him during the night, being within gun-shot, and clear- 
ly discerning the stars in his broad pennant, I imagined 
the most prudent method was to bring to and hoist 
the colors, that no mistake might arise." 

We have given this little account of a very minor 
incident in way of prelude to the real story of the Flag 
on the sea during the War of 1812, as revealed in a 
few dramatic scenes. That Great Britain made light 
of the defeat of the Little Belt, and regarded this 
country, in the summer of 1812, as an "insignificant 



FLAG ON THE SEA IN 1812 149 

Power" is clearly shown in a sentence that appeared 
in the London Evening Star in July of that year. 
That paper sneered at "a piece of striped bunting fly- 
ing at the mastheads of a few fir-built frigates manned 
by outlaws." 

But England was to receive a shock that shook the 
whole structure of her naval traditions. Bear in mind 
that no European country had ever beaten her in a 
single-ship action; that Trafalgar was, in 1812, a 
memory of a tremendous victory less than seven years 
past. During that month of July, when that refer- 
ence to "striped bunting flying at the mastheads of a 
few fir-built frigates" came to print in London, the 
Constitution, Captain Isaac Hull, made her remarkable 
escape from under the guns of a British fleet, through 
superior seamanship. Within a month, to be precise, 
on August 19, 1812, the same Constitution smashed 
the Guerriere, a pride of the British navy, to flinders 
off the New England coast. Hull sailed up Boston 
harbor to the old Federalist town, and, his ship being 
of Massachusetts make, there was no holding back the 
true American soul from uttering itself in wild cries 
of joy and in streets beflagged with Old Glory. A song 
of the times, one of the many poems of jubilation, 
gives us a stanza that introduces the London Evening 
Stars "striped bunting" with real effect: 

"Too long our tars have borne in peace 
With British domineering; 
But now they've sworn the trade should cease — 
For vengeance they are steering. 



150 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

First gallant Hull, he was the lad 

Who sailed a tyrant-hunting, 
And swaggering Dacres soon was glad 

To strike to 'striped bunting P " 

There was a neat little incident on the smashed deck 
of the Guerriere. Hull sent Lieut. Geo. C. Read in 
a boat to receive the surrender of the British frigate. 
When Read stepped up to Dacres, the British captain, 
he said, "Commodore Hull's compliments, and wishes 
to know if you have struck your flag." Dacres looked 
up and down his ship, and then coolly and dryly re- 
plied, "Well, I don't know. Our mizzen-mast is gone. 
Our mainmast is gone. Upon the whole, you may say 
we have struck our flag." 

But behind unfortunate Dacres, across the wide 
Atlantic, stood the English nation awaiting word of 
victory. Imagine, if you can, the dismay when tid- 
ings came of the Stars and Stripes waving above a 
beaten Union Jack. The London Times, then as now 
the great paper of the city, lamented "the striking of 
an English flag on the high seas to anything like an 
equal force. . . . Never before in the history of the 
world did an English frigate strike to an American." 
Some one should have stood right up in meeting and 
called up the shades of the Serapis and Paul Jones. It 
was most sad, as the Guerriere was one of the select 
frigates picked to drive "the insolent striped bunting 
from the seas." 

October 18, 1812, witnessed the defeat of the Frolic 
by the Wasp. The Britisher was so shattered, and lost 
so many men, that an American had to board her 
and haul down her flag. She fought magnificently, 



FLAG ON THE SEA IN 1812 151 

but was beaten decisively in a raging sea that hurled 
spray over the muzzles of the guns. 

On October 25, 1812, a week later, the United 
States defeated the Macedonian and brought her home 
in triumph. And, on December 29, the Constitution, 
then under Bainbridge, whipped the Java. In six 
months, England had lost the frigates Guerriere, Ma- 
cedonian and Java, and three hundred merchantmen. 
This universal success of Old Glory on the sea went 
far to compensate for the poor luck of the American 
forces on land during the opening months of the war. 
Even recent English writers do not neglect to pay a 
just tribute to the achievements of the Stars and Stripes 
on the ocean in 1812. Shane Leslie, in an article in 
the Dublin Review, said in 1917, that "Naval honors 
went to America. The Anglo-Saxon, after littering 
the sea with Spanish, Dutch and French wreckage, 
was whipped at sea by his own whelps." 

Those sea-battles were contested bitterly, and were 
won for Old Glory through the superior seamanship 
of officers and the superb gunfire of crews. When it 
came to the question of courage, of the ability to hold 
on to the grim end, there was little choice between 
American and Briton. And there was much noble 
chivalry displayed under the two flags in that war on 
the sea of 1812, a chivalry that should be recalled in 
these later days of approaching understanding be- 
tween Great Britain and the United States. Decatur, 
who commanded the United States, and Carden, who 
captained the Macedonian, had met in Norfolk just 
before war was declared. This bit of dialogue is worth 
preservation, especially for its flag-motif: 



152 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

Carden : "We now meet as friends. God grant we 
may never meet as enemies. But we are subject to the 
orders of our governments, and must obey them." 

Decatur: "I heartily reciprocate the sentiment." 

Carden : "But what, sir, would be the consequence to 
yourself and the force you command, if we should meet 
as enemies'?" 

Decatur: "Why, sir, if we meet with forces that 
might be fairly called equal, the conflict would be se- 
vere, but the flag of my country on the ship I command 
shall never leave the staff on which it waves as long as 
there is a hull to support it." 

Epilogue: On October 25, 1812, Carden stepped on 
board the United States to hand over his sword to De- 
catur. "No, sir," said the latter, doffing his cocked 
hat, "I cannot receive the sword of a man who has so 
bravely defended his ship, but I will receive your 
hand." Then Decatur conducted Carden to his cabin 
where, as an old account tells us, "refreshments were 
set out and partaken of in a friendly spirit by the two 
commanders." 

The defeats of the Guerriere, the Macedonian and 
the Java, in rapid succession, stunned England. There 
were no more references to the Constitution as "a bun- 
dle of pine-boards." George Canning, speaking in open 
Parliament in February, 1813, asserted that the loss 
of the Guerriere and the Macedonian produced a sen- 
sation in the country scarcely to be equaled by the 
most violent convulsion of nature. He added, "It 
cannot be too deeply felt that the sacred spell of the 
invincibility of the British fleet was broken by those 



FLAG ON THE SEA IN 1812 153 

unfortunate captures." The London Times confessed 
that "a very short time before the capture of the Guer- 
riere, an American frigate was an object of ridicule 
to our honest tars." And the Pilot, the chief naval 
authority of England, seeing Old Glory like an ap- 
parition in the west, fairly wailed. The following 
must have made good reading for the men who stood 
on decks under the Stars and Stripes: "Any one who 
had predicted such a result of an American war this 
time last year would have been treated as a madman 
or a traitor. He would have been told, if his opponents 
had condescended to argue with him, that long ere 
seven months had elapsed the American flag would 
be swept from the seas, the contemptible navy of the 
United States annihilated, and their maritime arse- 
nals rendered a heap of ruins. Yet down to this mo- 
ment not a single American frigate has struck her 
flag." 

To the United States these victories were clarion 
calls to Old Glory, summoning it to appear on roof 
and steeple and in banquet hall. After Decatur had 
taken the Macedonian, he sent Midshipman Hamilton, 
who had served under him in the action, to Washing- 
ton with the captured flag of the British frigate, to 
deliver it to Paul Hamilton, the Secretary of the Navy 
and the father of the young midshipman. Hamilton 
arrived on the evening of December 8, 1812, and at 
once went to a ball that was in progress with his father 
in attendance. Into the groups of dancers came the 
young fellow with the Macedonian's flag draped 
around his shoulders. We open an old letter written 
in Washington on December 14, for the rest of the in- 



154 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

cident : "He was borne into the room by many officers. 
Good little Mrs. Hamilton, his mother, stood by me, 
and was so much agitated at the sight of her son that 
she must have fallen had I not stepped forward and 
offered her my arm. The young man sprang into her 
arms, his sisters threw their arms around him. The 
colors were then held up by several gentlemen over 
the heads of Hull, Morris and Stewart, and 'Hail 
Columbia' played; and there were huzzas until my 
head swayed." 

The picture of those sea-fighters, Hull and Stewart, 
under the captured British ensign, with the flags of 
the Guerriere and another English ship of war on a 
wall near them, and with flashes of Old Glory giving 
colors of victory, is one to be added to our gallery 
of scenes in the story of the Stars and Stripes. 



XXVII 

The Flag Finds Victory in Defeat 

BY the middle of the year 1813, England had suc- 
ceeded in smothering the navy of the United 
States under an overwhelming power. The Stars and 
Stripes, in the matter of frigates free for service at 
sea, was bankrupt or in danger of bankruptcy. The 
Constellation was held a prisoner at Norfolk; the 
United States and the Macedonian were gripped by a 
stern blockade ; the Congress had become unseaworthy ; 
and the Essex was in the Pacific, where she soon was 
captured after a desperate fight against heavy odds. 
Only three frigates were left in a condition that gave 
them freedom to go out and fight. They were the 
President, the Constitution and the Chesapeake. The 
latter two were, in May, 1813, at the Charlestown 
navy yard, Boston, and Englishman Broke, on the 
Shannon, could see their masts as he came in toward 
Nahant. 

The battle of June 1, 1813, between the Chesapeake 
and the Shannon, off Boston harbor, although a defeat 
for Old Glory, gave our navy its signal of victory for 
many contests that followed. Lawrence was beaten 
by Broke in a better ship. As he lay mortally wounded, 
he repeatedly exclaimed, "Don't give up the ship!" 
and, as one account states, added, "The flag shall wave 

155 



156 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

while I live." When the news of the defeat and cap- 
ture of his frigate traveled through the United States, 
it was received with incredulity and great anxiety. 
Richard Rush wrote, years afterward, "I remember 
the public gloom; funeral orations and badges of 
mourning bespoke it. 'Don't give up the ship,' the 
dying words of Lawrence, were on every tongue.'' 

One episode, slight but full of meaning, occurred 
near Newark, N. J., on July 4, 1813. On that day 
a group of men rode on horses from Newark to a place 
then called Orange Four-Corners. They entered a 
tavern and drank a number of toasts, two of which 
were as follows: 

"Hull, Jones, Decatur and Bainbridge, their courage 
and success have encircled them with laurels unfading 
as time, imperishable as immortality." 

"James Lawrence, the brave, the true, the good. May 
his last words be the signal of victory to the United 
States commanders, e Do not give up the ship !' " 

Those were indeed dark days for Old Glory, bright- 
ened in part by the thought of the heroism of Law- 
rence, and by certain memories of his chivalry at sea 
and generous appreciation by his foemen. Broke was 
severely injured in the head during the fight of the 
Chesapeake and the Shannon, yet for hours, between 
moments of delirium, he spoke of the "gallant and 
masterly style" shown by Lawrence in bringing the 
Chesapeake out to meet his ship, under full sail, and 
with four great flags flying; Stars and Stripes on the 
mizzen-royal masthead, on the peak, in the starboard 



FLAG FINDS VICTORY IN DEFEAT 157 

main rigging, and, at the fore, a broad white flag with 
the words "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights." 

The Shannon took the Chesapeake to Halifax, with 
the dead Lawrence, wrapped in his Stars and Stripes, 
on the quarter-deck. The good people of Halifax, 
loyal to the core to their Union Jack, knew what man- 
ner of man lay within the folds of Old Glory on the 
deck of his lost frigate. Less than three months had 
elapsed since Lawrence, in the Hornet, had defeated 
Peake, in the Peacock, Two acts of the American 
must have thrilled true Englishmen with a feeling that 
James Lawrence was a man through and through. He 
had taken into his own family the son of one of the 
slain hands of the Peacock, and he had paid a glo- 
rious tribute to the Union Jack. His opponent, Cap- 
tain William Peake, was killed by the last broadside 
from the Hornet. Lawrence had his body carried to 
his cabin, and tenderly covered it with the Union Jack. 
So Captain William Peake went down in his ship, 
in five and a half fathoms of water, honored with "a 
shroud and a sepulcher worthy so brave a sailor." 

Halifax knew of Lawrence's tribute to his dead foe. 
So, when the Chesapeake slowly came into the harbor, 
with her captain lying still and cold on the deck, and 
wrapped in Old Glory, she determined to honor his 
memory as a fellow man and a chivalrous enemy. We 
must not overlook this event in the story of our Flag, 
for it shows us clearly that the souls beneath the 
standards of the English-speaking peoples are one in 
noble impulses. 

Halifax chose the oldest resident naval officer as 
chief pall-bearer at the funeral, and she buried Law- 



158 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

rence in his Old Glory. One beautiful line of the 
day comes to mind: "Victory, reluctant, dropt a star 
upon the grave.' ' We quote from a poem written in 
the Nova Scotian city during the week of the funeral : 

"At dawn of day was seen afar 
The flag that bore the stripe and star, 
And high Old England's ensign flew 
To cheer the Shannon's hardy crew. 

"His midnight watch the seaman keeps 
Where wrapt in death the hero sleeps, 
Where, in his country's colours, bleeds 
Brave Lawrence." 

After the body of Lawrence was returned to the 
United States, in September, 1813, the Hon. Joseph 
Story delivered an address at Salem. We select from 
this address one fine sentence: "The stars and stripes, 
which distinguish our flag, are not more our own than 
that profuse and generous gallantry which sees an 
enemy no longer than a hostile banner waves for his 
protection." That was a salute to Halifax. 

We also copy two extremely interesting fragments 
from the mass of printed matter on the loss of the 
Chesapeake. One, in reference to the slain officers of 
the frigate, said, in way of reply to Napoleon's utter- 
ance of March 17, 1811, "Lawrence, Ludlow, Ballard, 
Broome, White, you died in the defense of the 'religion 
of your flag.' " The Boston Palladium for June 15, 
1813, glorified both Lawrence and his Stars and 
Stripes, in these words: "His flag he could not suffer 
should wave under a shadow of suspicion, or be ex- 
posed to the least breath of reproach." 



FLAG FINDS VICTORY IN DEFEAT 159 

Old Glory snatched victory from the jaws of defeat 
on Lake Erie on September 10, 1813. The story of 
Perry's victory on Lake Erie is one of the high lights 
in the record of the War of 1812. But our schoolbooks 
almost invariably give a wrong impression of the flag- 
episode at the very heart of that important battle. 
They support the belief, and practically all illustra- 
tions of the event strengthen the view, that Perry 
transferred the Stars and Stripes from the Lawrence 
to the Niagara, at the critical moment of the struggle. 

The facts follow. Perry, taking the words of the 
dying Lawrence, "Don't give up the ship," as his bat- 
tle-cry, his motto for his signal, had a large blue flag 
made at Erie, with those words upon it in white muslin. 
When his flagship, the Lawrence, named after the 
commander of the Chesapeake, was shattered and in 
danger of falling into the hands of the British, he took 
this flag, left the Lawrence in the command of her 
captain, with a Stars and Stripes at her masthead, and 
was rowed in a boat to the Niagara. Then he pro- 
ceeded to win his fight, with the Niagara as his flag- 
ship. 

Now the typical picture of the act of transfer of 
the blue flag shows Perry standing upright in a small 
boat amid a hail of shot churning the water around 
him, and with a thirteen-stripe Stars and Stripes either 
in his arms or flying at the bow of his little skiff. He 
carried the blue flag, with the last words of Lawrence 
upon it. If he had carried an Old Glory, it would 
have been the orthodox Flag of the period, with fif- 
teen stars and fifteen stripes. 

The big dramatic moment of that critical fight on 



160 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

Lake Erie was the hour when Perry, on the Niagara, 
broke through the British line and saw the Lawrence 
with her Flag lowered, about to surrender. Through 
the murk came the Niagara pouring broadsides into 
the English ships. Now for the Lawrence, and her 
men who could stand amid her dead and dying. "When 
the smoke cleared, with a feeble shout the remnant of 
the crew flung out their flag at masthead." So wrote 
an historian years ago, and, with that stirring picture 
of victory snatched from defeat for Old Glory, 
through the inspiration of the call of Lawrence that 
still thrills American fighters at sea, we close the rec- 
ord of Old Glory on the water in the War of 1812. 



XXVIII 
The Flag on Land in the War of 1812 

AFTER discouraging campaigns during the early 
months of the War of 1812, the Flag found it- 
self with defenders gathering close around it in vic- 
tory. There are but three events of the whole war on 
land that give us stirring scenes with Old Glory a 
dominant actor. They occurred at Lundy's Lane, 
Canada ; Stonington, Conn., and Fort McHenry, Mary- 
land. 

Strangely enough, the Stars and Stripes owed its 
glory at Lundy's Lane mainly to regiments from New 
England, although New England had been a back- 
slider in supporting the central government at Wash- 
ington in active prosecution of the war. The men 
of Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut, who 
fought with Scott and Ripley under Old Glory at 
Lundy's Lane, were of the stock that stood at Bunker 
Hill and swarmed over the Berkshires and the Green 
Mountains to fall upon and overwhelm Burgoyne. 
No amount of Federalist talk could argue them out 
of their conviction of the demands of loyalty to their 
country's Flag. 

The battle of Lundy's Lane, on July 25, 1814, was 
mostly fought after sunset, during a close, sultry dark- 
ness, with a pale moon shining, and with the roar 

161 



162 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

of Niagara Falls thundering through the volleys of 
cannon and muskets. As the American force marched 
to the field, a rainbow arched the head of their column, 
the colors of its curve enclosing the red, white and blue 
of the flags that fluttered within it. This column, we 
give the make-up of the little American army as a 
whole, was composed of two regiments from Massa- 
chusetts, one from Vermont, one from Connecticut, one 
from New York, one from Pennsylvania, and a mixed 
body of militia mainly from Pennsylvania. The reg- 
ulars had been trained to a fine finish by Scott and 
Ripley, and formed one of the best fighting bodies the 
United States ever sent to a battlefield. 

The British force at Lundy's Lane included the fa- 
mous Royal Scots and other regiments whose standards 
had been seen on many fields. The fight that ensued 
when the two little armies met, was one long series of 
bayonet charges, with interludes of musketry fire in 
volleys so close that the flashes from the muzzles of the 
muskets frequently crossed in sheets of flame vivid in 
the night. 

Major Jesup, with the 25th Regiment (Conn.), at- 
tacked on the left, while Scott's other three regiments 
in his brigade fell upon the front of the English line. 
Jesup broke through the Royal Scots. His Stars and 
Stripes "was riddled with balls, and as a sergeant 
waved it amid a storm of bullets, the staff was sev- 
ered in three places in his hand. Turning to his com- 
mander, the sergeant exclaimed as he took up the frag- 
ments, 'Look, Colonel, how they have cut us!' The 
next minute a ball passed through his body, but he 
still kept his feet, and still waved his mutilated stand- 






THE FLAG ON LAND IN 1812 163 

ard until, faint with loss of blood, he sank on the 
field." 

The above quotation is from a history that appeared 
in 1852. We use this book again, in telling of the 
attack by Major Leavenworth's Ninth Regiment 
(Mass.), which advanced on the British center and 
"appeared in the darkness to be engulfed in fire." 
Scott, coming up on the gallop, "pointed to the flag 
that still waved in the dim moonlight" and urged 
the regiment to hold fast. Soon Colonel Miller arrived 
with the 25th Regiment (Mass.), and received orders 
to storm the British battery on the hill. Major Mc- 
Farland, with the 23rd Regiment (N. Y.), went in 
to support him. "The struggle," as the old book we 
have at our elbow says, "became at once close and 
fierce ; bayonet crossed bayonet, weapon clashed against 
weapon." The guns were taken, but the British came 
back in a wave of desperate men, and again, in the 
moonlight, around the American regimental flags, the 
struggle was renewed. 

Canadians and Englishmen claim that Lundy's 
Lane was a victory for their side or a drawn battle. 
Americans make similar claims. One fact we know. 
Old Glory never waved over better troops than those 
regiments that fought for it in the darkness of the 
night of July 25, 1814. In Scott's brigade, at the 
close of the action, all the regimental officers were 
killed or wounded, and "only one out of every four 
soldiers stood up unhurt." 

Here are two sharply defined pictures of two regi- 
ments, taken word for word from the book we have 



164 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

been following. They give the lie to the statement 
that New England had little part in the War of 1812 : 

"Around the tattered colors of the Eleventh Regi- 
ment (Vermont), that shattered fragment of the first 
brigade was rallied." 

"The Twenty-fifth (Connecticut), under Jesup, 
with their regimental banner pierced with scores of 
bullet-holes received at Chippewa and in this engage- 
ment, reposed after victory on the river side of the 
Oueenstown Road." 

Add to those pictures that of the Old Glory of 
the Ninth Regiment (Massachusetts),, "that still waved 
in the dim moonlight" over its men "engulfed in fire," 
and you have material for bronze tablets in State 
Capitols of three New England states. 

During the month after Lundy's Lane, in August, 
1814, the British bombarded Stonington, Conn., from 
the sea. Lossing, in his "Field Book of the War of 
1812," tells this story: "A timid citizen in the battery 
proposed lowering the colors. 'No! No!' shouted ven- 
erable Captain Jeremiah Holmes. That flag shall 
never come down while I am alive!' When the wind 
died away, he held it out on the point of a bayonet, 
and several shots went through it. To prevent its 
being struck by some coward, Holmes held a com- 
panion, J. Dean Gallup, on his shoulders while he 
nailed it to the staff. It was completely riddled by 
British shot." Lossing saw this flag in Stonington, in 
i860, and counted the bullet-holes. 

The history of the Stars and Stripes on land dur- 



THE FLAG ON LAND IN 1812 165 

ing the War of 1812 very properly closes with the 
"Star-Spangled Banner" of Fort McHenry. Francis 
Scott Key, who wrote the poem that so soon became 
famous when sung to the music of an English song, 
"Anacreon in Heaven/' was a temporary prisoner on 
a British ship during the bombardment of Fort Mc- 
Henry at Baltimore. He had gone to this ship to 
obtain the release of his friend, Dr. William Beanes, 
and was held by the British until after the attack was 
over. 

Key had taken with him, in his effort to secure the 
release of Dr. Beanes, another friend, John S. Skin- 
ner, and the two men were transferred from Admiral 
Cochrane's ship, the Royal Oak, to the frigate Sur- 
prise, and from the latter to their own little boat, 
where they were held under guard. This boat was so 
placed that it gave Key a clear view of Old Glory 
streaming over Fort McHenry. The poem, which was 
hastily scribbled, part of it while on the deck of his 
boat while watching the "rockets' red glare" and "the 
bombs bursting in air," and the rest in lines jotted 
down on the back of a letter as he was returning to 
Baltimore, is a record in verse of what Key actually 
saw on September 13, 1814. 

On September 21, 1814, the poem, or song, ap- 
peared in the Baltimore American under the title "De- 
fense of Fort McHenry," set to the music of "Anac- 
reon in Heaven." It was at once received with en- 
thusiasm. To-day, as "The Star-Spangled Banner," 
it holds premier place among the patriotic songs of 
the United States. It was fitting that our Flag should 
have been the inspiration of our most popular national 



166 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

hymn, for "The Star-Spangled Banner" was a per- 
fectly natural outburst of feeling in a period when Old 
Glory was making a dramatic fight for recognition 
among the great standards of the world. 

The Flag that inspired Key was made by order of 
Brig. Gen. John Strieker, who commanded the Third 
Brigade, made up mainly of men from Baltimore. It 
was sewed together by Mrs. Mary Young Pickersgill, 
wife of Col. Henry S. Pickersgill of Baltimore. It 
was made in sections, was originally forty feet long, 
with fifteen stripes, each nearly two feet wide, and with 
fifteen stars, each two feet from point to point. The 
stars are arranged in five parallel lines, three stars 
to a line. "The Star-Spangled Banner" now rests in 
the National Museum at Washington. 



XXIX 

The Flag Assumes Permanent Form 

ON September 26, 1814, the American privateer, 
General Armstrong^ dropped anchor in the har- 
bor of Fayal, a port protected by the neutral flag of 
Portugal. She was one of the fleet whose audacious 
exploits, as a prominent Englishman said in Glasgow 
but three weeks before, had "proved injurious to our 
commerce, and discreditable to the directors of the 
naval power of the British nation, whose flag till late 
waved over every sea and triumphed over every rival. ,, 

At sunset of that September 26, three ships showing 
the British flag entered the roads leading to the harbor 
of Fayal. We can give no space to the fight that fol- 
lowed, one of the most desperate sea-fights ever fought. 
It opened with "one of the bloodiest defeats suffered 
by the British navy in the war of 1812," and closed, 
later, with Captain S. C. Reid sinking the General 
Armstrong to prevent her being taken. 

Early in 1817, Captain Reid was in Washington, 
and was asked to prepare a design for the Stars and 
Stripes that should represent the increase in the num- 
ber of States, "without destroying its distinctive char- 
acter, as the committee were about to increase the stars 
and stripes to the whole number of States." As there 
were at the time twenty States in the Union, there 

*7 



168 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

was a possibility of arriving at an Old Glory of twenty 
stripes, with a strong probability of indefinite addi- 
tion of stripes. As one Congressman facetiously re- 
marked, the Flag would in time require a ship's mast 
or a tree to hold it aloft. 

It was a gracious act to give Reid the task of design- 
ing a form for Old Glory that would endure, as his 
fight at Fayal was practically the last sea-fight of a 
war waged in defense of the integrity and the reputa- 
tion of the Stars and Stripes. Congressman Peter H. 
Wendover, of New York City, a leader in the move- 
ment toward securing a permanent form for Old Glory, 
was a close friend of Reid, and it is reasonable to as- 
sume that the two men had talked over the future of 
the Flag, that they saw in the vast expanse of the 
Louisiana Territory the areas of many new States to 
come, each demanding representation in the nation's 
Flag. 

To go back a few years, on July 13, 1794, George 
Washington gave his name to the first bill that re- 
ceived his signature as President at that session of 
Congress. The bill read: 

"An Act making alterations in the flag of the United 
States : 

"Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the first of May, 
1795, the flag of the United States be fifteen stripes, alter- 
nate red and white, and that the union be fifteen stars, white 
in a blue field." 

Vermont and Kentucky had come in to the sister- 
hood of States, to make the fifteen represented in the 
Old Glory of 1794. But, since 1795, Tennessee, Ohio, 



FLAG ASSUMES PERMANENT FORM 169 

Louisiana, Indiana and Mississippi, had been added, 
and it was realized that it would be ridiculous to con- 
tinue adding stripes to the Flag, to keep pace with the 
incoming States. Captain Reid found a reasonable 
solution of the problem. "He recommended that the 
stripes be reduced to the original number of thirteen 
States, and to form the number of stars representing 
the whole number of States into one great star in the 
Union, adding one star for every new State, thus giv- 
ing the significant meaning to the flag, symbolically 
expressed, of 'E Pluribus Unum.' " 

Congressman Wendover wrote a number of letters 
to Captain Reid while the latter was in New York. 
In that of March 25, 1818, he included this sentence: 
"If the bill passes the Senate soon, it is probable I 
shall request the captain of the late General Armstrong 
to have a flag made for Congress Hall under his di- 
rection." The bill referred to was the one of April 
4, 1818, which we shall quote later in this chapter. 
Another letter, that of April 6, 1818, also from Wash- 
ington to New York, opens with a clever allusion to 
England's slurring phrase, "striped bunting flying at 
the mastheads of a few fir-built frigates," and does 
not overlook Reid's heroic defense of his ship at Fayal. 
We give the first two sentences: "Your favor of the 
3d. instant is this moment received. I learn with 
pleasure that the 'Star-Spangled Banner' has fallen in- 
to good hands, and doubt not Captain Lloyd of the 
Plantagenet once thought it was in good hands as the 
nature of the case would admit, and hope the 'striped' 
or 'ragged bunting' will ever find equal support as 
at Fayal." Lloyd was the commander of the huge 



170 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

ship-of-the-line Plantagenet, seventy-four guns, one of 
the three that cornered Reid's privateer at Fayal, to 
their sorrow. 

Captain S. C. Reid, with the aid of his good wife, 
in old Cherry Street, New York, made the Old Glory 
of the new design, and sent it by mail to Washington, 
where it arrived on April 13, 1818. James Schouler, 
in his "History of the United States of America," 
comes close to the true significance of this Flag of 
1818. He says, "April 13, 1818: The new flag of the 
United States, hoisted for the first time over the cham- 
ber of assembled representatives at Washington, with 
its twenty stars so disposed as to form one great star 
in the center of the azure field, while the long red 
and white stripes danced in the breeze, supplied a 
parable. That spangled host, soon to be increased in 
number, spoke of a Union to be progressive and per- 
petual, while the thirteen stripes recalled founders 
whose memory must ever be cherished." 

The Act of Congress signed by President Monroe 
on April 4, 1818, read: 

"An Act to Establish the Flag of the United States : 
"Section 1. Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the 
fourth day of July next, the flag of the United States be thir- 
teen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white ; that the union 
have twenty stars, white in a blue field. 

"Section 2. Be it further enacted. That on the admission 
of every new State into the Union, one star be added to the 
union of the flag; and that such addition shall take effect on 
the fourth of July next succeeding such admission." 

Old Glory, even in that rather precise Act, had not 
reached a definite design. No one seemed to know 



FLAG ASSUMES PERMANENT FORM 171 

how to arrange the stars. As late as July 4, 1857, 
flags were displayed in New York City with stars 
grouped in at least nine different ways; in circles, dia- 
monds, anchors, etc. It was not until March 18, 1896, 
that Daniel S. Lamont, then the Secretary of War, 
issued the following order relative to army flags : 

"The field or union of the National flag in use in the army 
will, on and after July 4, 1896, consist of forty-five stars, 
in six rows, the first, third and fifth rows to have eight stars, 
and the second, fourth and six rows seven stars each, in a blue 
field." 

That order fixed the arrangement of the stars in 
the Union in parallel lines, and apparently gave per- 
manence to the design of the Stars and Stripes. 



XXX 

"Old Glory" 

THE brig Charles Doggett, Captain William Driver, 
was about to sail from Salem, Mass., in 1831. 
A young man, a friend of Captain Driver, came on 
deck at the head of a party from the town, and pre- 
sented the Captain with "a large and beautifully made 
American flag." It was done up in stops and, when 
sent to the masthead and broken out to the wind, Cap- 
tain Driver christened it "Old Glory." This Flag is 
now preserved in the Essex Institute at Salem. 

The original Old Glory very appropriately had a 
romantic history. It came up over the sea-rim of the 
South Pacific, when Driver and his brig sailed to the 
rescue of the mutineers of the English ship Bounty. 
Then its story shifts back to the United States, after 
a gap of thirty years. 

Captain William Driver was living in Nashville, 
Tenn., at the outbreak of the Civil War. Fearing that 
Confederate sympathizers would seize and destroy his 
Flag, he sewed it into the coverlet of his bed, that it 
might be hidden by day and be near him at night. 
In February, 1862, Nashville fell into Federal hands. 
A correspondent of the Philadelphia Press gave this 
paragraph as a portion of his story: "A corporal's 
guard was sent to the old man's house, where they 

172 



"OLD GLORY" 173 

ripped from the coverlet of his bed an immense flag 
containing a hundred and ten yards of bunting, and 
he brought it himself to the Capitol and unfurled it 
from the flagstaff. Then, with tears in his eyes, he 
said: There, those Texas Rangers have been hunting 
for that these six months, without finding it, and they 
knew I had it. I have always said if I could see it 
float over that Capitol, I should have lived long 
enough. Now 'Old Glory' is up there, gentlemen, and 
I am ready to die." 

Curiously, Captain William Driver, in naming the 
American Flag "Old Glory," unwittingly echoed 
another sailor, John Kilby, a quarter-gunner under 
Paul Jones on the Bon Homme Richard, who, in his 
memoirs, spoke of the Flag as "the glory of America. ,, 



XXXI 

Two Women, the Flag and the Book 

IN the early years of the nineteenth century two 
nations traveled in nearly parallel lines from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific, across the middle belt of North 
America. England, with the Hudson Bay Company 
as a type of her advance guard under the Union Jack, 
went with the steel trap of the hunter, seeking only 
for the gain that would accrue from hunting and trad- 
ing in the skins of wild animals. She cared little for 
any enterprise that aimed to establish fixed colonies 
or tended to uplift the native Indian tribes. 

The story of the travel of the men of the United 
States to the shores of the West, along their lines 
of occidental progress, is best typified in the history 
of two men and two women, Marcus Whitman, M.D., 
the Rev. H. H. Spalding, and their wives. There is 
a background to their episode in our story of Old 
Glory. General William Clark, he of our chapter on 
the Flag's trip overland to the Pacific, was living in 
St. Louis in 1832, as Indian Superintendent. To him 
came two Indians of the Flat Heads, who had traveled 
hundreds of miles in an unusual quest. They wanted 
the white man's Book and his religion for their people 
in the fastnesses of the remote mountains and on the 
slope of the land beyond, 

174 



TWO WOMEN, FLAG AND BOOK 175 

William Barrows, in his admirable history, "Ore- 
gon; The Struggle for Possession," gives a version of 
the address of one of these Indians, delivered to Clark 
in council at St. Louis, of which we copy a part: "I 
came to you over a trail of many moons, from the 
setting sun. You were the friend of my fathers who 
have all gone the long way. I came with one eye 
partly opened, for more light for my people, who sit 
in darkness. I made my way to you with strong arms, 
through many enemies and strange lands, that I might 
carry back much to them. . . . My people sent me to 
get the white man's Book of Heaven." Clark did not 
give the Indians what they wanted, and they departed 
over the trail "of many moons" with heavy hearts. But 
a young clerk, who was in the room with Clark when 
they presented their petition, overheard the talk, and 
what he treasured in memory became "a divine pivot" 
in the history of the Oregon country. He sent the 
story of the appeal of the two Flat Heads to friends 
in Pittsburg, who transferred it to George Catlin, the 
Indian historian; and Catlin gave it, in 1836, to the 
Rev. H. H. Spalding and his wife, who were on their 
way from the East to Oregon as missionaries. 

On July 4, 1836, Spalding, with the to-be-famous 
Whitman, and their wives, came through the South 
Pass between the Rockies and the Wind River Moun- 
tains, in a wagon, the first to make the long trek, on 
their path to Oregon. With them were a Stars and 
Stripes and a Bible. Barrows says, "It is a little 
amusing to trace through this pass the routes of dis- 
tinguished explorers, as 'Fremont, 1842/ 'Fremont, 
1843/ 'St anbury, 1849.' It may give information 



176 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

and also divide honors to add, 'Mesdames Whitman 
and Spalding, 1836/ A United States corps of engi- 
neers discovering a pass in the Rocky Mountains six 
years after two women had gone through !" 

On the morning of the Fourth of July, 1836, Mrs. 
Spalding was ill, fainted, "and thought she was near 
the end of her life." By nightfall she was stronger. 
As Barrows puts it, poetically, "Was it because they 
gave her to drink of the brook trickling by, whose 
waters were to run through her great parish to the 
Pacific^" They were, on that Fourth of July, on the 
high plateau where the head springs of the South Platte, 
the Yellowstone and the Columbia, gleam in their sil- 
ver threads. They little knew, those four men and 
women, that, because their wagon carried Old Glory 
and the Book, together with wheat seed and farming 
utensils, they were to give, through righteous coloniza- 
tion, the one indubitable claim of the United States to 
the Oregon country in years to come. 

When once on the Pacific slope, twenty-five hun- 
dred miles from their homes, the little party halted. 
"Then, spreading their blankets and lifting the Amer- 
ican flag, they all kneeled around the Book, and, with 
prayer and praise, took possession of the western side 
of the continent for Christ and the Church." They had 
traversed the weary road to give the land a Christian 
civilization under the Stars and Stripes. With them, 
as they knelt, were two Nez Perce boys, who stood by 
with eyes on Old Glory and the Bible. 

William Barrows, in his work on Oregon, gave us 
one of the most adequate and fascinating of all the 
biographies of our forty-eight Commonwealths. In 



TWO WOxMEN, FLAG AND BOOK 177 

tribute to him as an historian, and in memory of the 
heroism of the two women who were ''ready to die on 
the Rocky Mountains" in the service to which they 
were called, we give his word-picture of one of the most 
significant scenes in the whole historv of the Stars and 
Stripes: "In compass of background and foreground; 
the two halves of the continent; the parting rivers for 
two oceans; the moral exigency suggested by the two 
Indian figures; the rounding out of the Republic on 
the sunset side, as it came in the consequences; the 
kneeling men and women around the Book, with the 
American flag floating over them, — the scene is worthy 
any panel in the Rotunda at Washington." 



XXXII 

Old Glory Seeks the Ends of the World 

BY an Act of Congress of May 18, 1836, an expe- 
dition to the Antarctic regions was authorized, 
for the purpose of aiding, through a better knowledge 
of the fishing grounds, "our commerce embarked in 
the whale fisheries," and increasing the nation's fund 
of information of the world. Charles Wilkes, of the 
United States Navy, was placed in command, and his 
little fleet included the sloops-of-war Peacock and 
Vincennes, the brig Porpoise, the storeship Relief, and 
the tenders Sea-Gull and Flying Fish. 

Wilkes and his ships left Chesapeake Bay on Au- 
gust 18, 1838, sailed across the Atlantic to Funchal, 
and then turned south and skirted the east coast of 
South America. After rounding the Horn, they car- 
ried their Flags over the South Pacific to Australia, 
and then headed straight for the Antarctic ice. It 
was a bold feat of seamanship to front the ice-pack 
in those small sailing ships, not one of them equipped 
with the engines of motor power of a later day. Yet 
Wilkes ran along the edge of the gigantic barrier, 
proved that there was an Antarctic continent, and 
wrote, in 1840, "I feel it due to the honor of our flag 
to make a proper assertion of the priority of the claim 
of the American Expedition, and of the greater extent 

178 



OLD GLORY AT ENDS OF WORLD 179 

of its discoveries and researches. That land does ex- 
ist within the Antarctic Circle is now confirmed." 

Wilkes and his fleet left the regions of the South 
Pacific, and made north for the sea-track of Robert 
Gray in the Columbia^ of whom we told in our chap- 
ter on the Flag's journey around the world. On April 
28, 1841, the VincenneS) Wilkes' sloop, was off the 
mouth of the Columbia River. The entry in his journal 
for the day corroborates all that Vancouver, Meares 
and Gray had said in 1792; for Wilkes wrote, "I stood 
for the bar of the Columbia River, after making 
every preparation to cross it, but I found breakers ex- 
tending from Cape Disappointment to Point Adams in 
one unbroken line. Mere description can give little 
idea of the terrors of the bar of the Columbia. All 
who have seen it have spoken of the wildness of the 
scene, the incessant war of the waters, representing it 
as one of the most fearful sights that can possibly meet 
the eye of the sailor." 

Wilkes went up the Columbia River. And now 
come the unexpected elements of this chapter. We 
set out to go through the five ponderous volumes that 
contain the records of the Wilkes Expedition, in 
search of Flag-incidents for this history. We read 
chapter after chapter, and page after page, without 
a glimpse of Old Glory. Then, and we are sure you 
will be as surprised as we were, events of the very 
nature we hoped to find came in a group, in Oregon. 
In a peculiarly alluring way, the arrival of the Wilkes 
party at the mouth of the Columbia, in 1841, ties to- 
gether three threads of Flag-stories that have already 
appeared in this book, and, in a truly dramatic man- 



180 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

ner, gives a verification of the salient episodes in each. 

Wilkes, in a part of his long voyage, went over 
the track of Robert Gray. He carried the Stars and 
Stripes to the bars of the Columbia, and then inland, 
as Gray had done before him. Then he met Marcus 
Whitman, of whom we have just written, and con- 
versed with him. When the two men clasped hands 
at Wallawalla, Oregon, a great circuit of American 
heroic endeavor was in current: for Wilkes had car- 
ried Old Glory around the Horn, along the mysterious 
Antarctic headlands of ice, and then up the Pacific, to 
meet another Old Glory that had gone from the At- 
lantic to the Missouri, and then by wagon over the 
Rockies and down to the Pacific at the Columbia 
River. 

But the really beautiful episode of that July, 1841, 
comes in here to make the trilogy complete. We give 
Wilkes' own words: "Mr. Drayton (who was with 
Wilkes) met with an old Indian at Waiilaptu, who 
was pointed out as the man who took the first flag that 
was ever seen in this country to the Grande Ronde 
(a meeting place) as the emblem of peace. Lewis 
and Clark, when in this country, presented an Amer- 
ican flag to the Cayuse tribe, calling it a flag of peace; 
this tribe, in alliance with the Wallawallas, had up 
to that time been always at war with the Shoshones 
and the Snakes. After it became known to the Snakes 
that such a flag existed, a party of Cayuse and Walla- 
wallas took the flag and planted it at the Grande 
Ronde, the old man above spoken of being the bearer. 
The result has been that these two tribes have ever 



OLD GLORY AT ENDS OF WORLD 181 

since been at peace with the Snakes, and all three have 
met annually in that place to trade." 

Wilkes wrote, in 1844, in closing his narrative, "I 
have reason to rejoice that I have been enabled to 
carry the moral influence of our country to every 
quarter of the globe where our flag has waved." Did 
he also hold in memory the "moral influence" of the 
Stars and Stripes and the Bible in that then remote 
land of Oregon? 

There was a sequel to Wilkes' narrative, one that 
he could not have foretold in 1844. On July 18, 
1841, the Peacock, Captain Hudson, one of the two 
sloops-of-war in his fleet, was wrecked in the surging 
billows while trying to sail through the break in the 
bar at the mouth of the Columbia. The sea rolled 
over her, plundering her of her rigging and her frame- 
work. In boats, a part of the crew reached shore. 
Captain Hudson, when he saw that the sea was rising 
rapidly, "ordered the ensign to be hoisted on the stump 
of the mizzen-mast, as a signal for the boats to return 
to the land ; which was obeyed by them, although with 
the feeling that they were abandoning their commander 
and those with him to their fate." 

But Hudson, and his plucky crew that stood by him, 
were saved, and they brought ashore with them the 
Old Glory that had fluttered "on the stump of the 
mizzen-mast." This Flag went with Wilkes across the 
Pacific, through the Indian Ocean, around the Cape 
of Good Hope, over the Atlantic, back to the United 
States. It must have had in its threads something of 
the restless spirit of daring of the American people, 
of the men who in the middle years of the last ceiv 



182 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

tury were striking north, south, east and west, carry- 
ing Old Glory on their mastheads into all corners of 
the world. For this ensign of the Peacock known 
now as the "Peacock Flag," did not rest after its re- 
turn to the United States in 1842. Its romantic story 
was then but beginning. 

In 1850, President Taylor recommended to Con- 
gress an appropriation to defray the expense of an ex- 
pedition to seek for Sir John Franklin, lost, with his 
men under the Union Jack, in the Arctic regions. 
Lieut. Edwin J. DeHaven, who had been with Wilkes, 
received the command of this expedition, and he car- 
ried the "Peacock Flag" with him on the Advance. 
The search proved in vain, although conducted in co- 
operation with an expedition from England. 

Now it chanced that Henry Grinnell had come into 
possession of the "Peacock Flag," probably through 
DeHaven, and had been largely instrumental in back- 
ing the Franklin expedition. When DeHaven re- 
turned with no word of Franklin, Grinnell at once 
planned a second expedition to assail the white North, 
and he gave Dr. Elisha Kent Kane the command. 
Kane had gone with DeHaven in the Advance, and had 
developed original plans for attacking the northern 
barriers of ice. With him again went the Old Glory 
of the Peacock, as the party sailed on May 30, 1853. 

Kane reached the farthest point North ever at- 
tained by man up to the time of his expedition. This 
word-picture, taken from the journal of William 
Morton, one of Kane's "gallant and trustworthy men," 
and transcribed by Kane, tells its own story; "Morton 
tried to pass round the cape. It was in vain; there 





o 

— ^ 

Ph c 
< "3 

^£ 

— <y 




OLD GLORY AT ENDS OF WORLD 183 

was no ice-foot, and, after trying his best to ascend 
the cliffs, he could get up but a few hundred feet. 
Here he fastened to his walking-pole the Grinnell flag 
of the Antarctic, a well-cherished little relic, which had 
now followed me on two Polar voyages. This flag 
had been saved from the wreck of the United States 
sloop-of-war Peacock, when she stranded off the 
Columbia River; it had accompanied Commodore 
Wilkes in his far-southern discovery of an Antarctic 
continent. It was now its strange destiny to float 
over the highest northern land, not only of America 
but of the globe." 

Still the Stars and Stripes of the Peacock could not 
rest. It went with Hayes to the North in i860, and 
was again spread to the wind by Captain Charles 
Francis Hall, on the Polaris in 1870. Hall had it 
with him, and unfurled it, when he took possession 
of land at 82 ° 60' north latitude "in the name of God 
and the United States." There is no question that 
this famous Stars and Stripes traveled farther north 
and south than any other flag in the world, of any 
nation. It was in good condition in 1878, and was de- 
scribed then as being "of ordinary bunting about eight 
by three feet, and with twenty-four stars of white 
muslin sewed in the Union." 

So we have for our Story of Old Glory the dra- 
matic record of a Stars and Stripes that rippled in 
the wind against the silver-white ice of the Antarctic; 
that came through the gates of destruction on the bars 
of the Columbia; that time and time again dared 
the desolate Mystery of the frozen North; that, flut- 
tering from the topmast of the Polaris, had the proud 



l&j. THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

honor of being, at the time, at the highest point north 
ever attained by any flag on any vessel. We leave 
it, with its Red, White and Blue vivid on the margin 
of the Polar Sea. 



XXXIII 
The Flag Flies Over the Halls of Montezuma 

THE annals of the Army of the United States in 
Mexico in 1847, reveal few instances of dramatic 
action with the Stars and Stripes as a participant. Gen- 
eral Taylor's campaign, which covered ground to the 
North in Mexico, is practically devoid of any mention 
of the Flag in action. Scott's spectacular drive on 
Mexico city from Vera Cruz, at the South, gives a 
scant half-dozen scenes that naturally fall within the 
scope of this history. There was romance enough in 
the mere fact that Scott's small American army of 
invasion fought on plains and ridges that were wet 
three centuries before with blood of Mexican and 
Spaniard. Scott's line of march traversed the fields, 
hills and rivers crossed by Cortez, and Old Glory 
waved in triumph where once the yellow standard of 
Spain had been flaunted in victory. 

In March, 1847, General Scott was at Vera Cruz. 
On the 9th of the month, he decided to land a force 
to assault the city. A line of boats filled with men 
and fluttering with standards, started from the ships 
for the shore, and passed through lines of war vessels 
with the British, French, Spanish, German, and other 
national colors streaming above masts and yard-arms 
heavy with masses of men gathered to watch the land- 

185 



186 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

ing. When the boats struck the sand, there was a rush 
of soldiers and marines to the sand-hills, and Old 
Glory was planted on a high crest without the firing 
of a gun. 

On the 6th of March, Vera Cruz fell and "the Flag 
of the American Republic floated from the top of 
San Juan D'Ulloa. The first great blow to the Mex- 
ican power had fallen." It is interesting to note that 
in Scott's "little cabinet" of officers at Vera Cruz, 
was an engineer, Captain Robert E. Lee. The roll- 
call of the commissioned officers of Scott's army of 
invasion was rich in the names of other men who, in 
two decades, were to win world-fame under the Stars 
and Stripes and the Confederate flag. 

Vera Cruz was followed by Cerro Gordo, a weird 
battle fought in a region of gorges and cliffs, that 
ended with every height crowned with the Stars and 
Stripes. The battle of Contreras grants us a brief 
glimpse of Old Glory flaming from the ridges of for- 
tified heights. Cherubusco yields a florid passage 
from Headley's "Life of Winfield Scott," which we 
give; "The sun's rising beams flashed on the crimson 
summit of Contreras; his noonday splendor failed to 
pierce the war cloud that shrouded the tens of thou- 
sands struggling in mortal combat around Cherubusco; 
and now his departing rays, as they stooped behind 
the Cordilleras, fell on a mournful field of slaughter. 
But they kissed in their farewell the American stand- 
ard fluttering from every summit and tower, where 
in the morning the Mexican cross greeted his coming." 

In September, 1847, Scott stood at the base of 
Chapultepec, with seven thousand men, determined on 



FLAG OVER HALLS OF MONTEZUMA 187 

carrying it by storm and then falling upon Mexico 
city. Chapultepec was carried, and, as the waves of 
the American army swept over the crest, "flag after 
flag was flung out from the upper walls." Scott looked 
up and saw, as Headley tells us in graphic prose, 
"walls and ramparts which a few hours before bristled 
with the enemy's cannon, now black with men, and 
fluttering with the colors of his own regiments." 

When Mexico city came into American hands, Gen- 
eral Quitman's division first approached the square, 
and his troops, "rushing with shouts upon it, hoisted 
their flag on the walls of the National Palace." A 
little company of forty United States marines, under 
Lieut. A. S. Nicholson, won the honor of carrying Old 
Glory into the heart of Mexico and standing beneath 
it as it went above the Palace. If you recall Lieut. 
O'Bannon, who planted the Stars and Stripes on the 
walls of Derna, Tripoli, at the time of General Wil- 
liam Eaton's assault in 1805, you will understand the 
meaning of the opening words of "The Marines' 
Hymn:" 

From the Halls of Montezuma 

To the shores of Tripoli 
We fight our country's battles 

On the land as on the sea. 

The feature of this series of sharp, decisive vic- 
tories for Old Glory that interests us the most, is the 
appearance of certain names, then associated with 
the Stars and Stripes, but now prominent in our coun- 
try's history as representing men who served under 
another flag. Lieut. George D. Pickett, at Chapulte- 



188 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

pec, "took charge of the colors of the 8th Infantry, 
had them borne to the top of the palace, lowered the 
enemy's standard, and replaced it with that of the 
8th Infantry and the national flag." Almost at his 
side, Lieut. James Longs treet "was disabled by a se- 
vere wound." Lieut. Lewis Armistead, 6th Infantry, 
was "the first to leap into the ditch under the artillery 
and musketry fire and hand-grenades of the enemy." 
Not far away, Lieut. T. J. Jackson "had eight of his 
artillery horses killed at one shot." 

Let us go on over the years to July 3, 1863. On 
that day "Stonewall" Jackson was no more. A bullet 
at Chancellorsville had dropped him, "Bobby" Lee's 
good "right arm," lifeless. In the afternoon of that 
July 3, at Gettysburg, Major General George D. 
Pickett led the pride of Virginia's regiments against 
the Union center. At the head of the column went 
Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead, to fall dying 
among the Union guns. 

The Mexican war was not one of enduring glory 
for the Stars and Stripes. Its chief interest for us is 
the schooling it gave to young West Pointers who 
were to step over the threshold of the sixties and find 
themselves arrayed in hostile camps on the soil of the 
United States. Some of them were true to Old Glory ; 
but there were others in their number who were for 
a time as "strangers in a strange land." 



XXXIV 

The Flag Goes Down the River Jordan to the 
Dead Sea 

THE Mexican war gave up one restless spirit to 
another and a nobler work when, on May 8, 
1847, W. F. Lynch, of the United States Navy, "the 
town and castle of Vera Cruz having some time before 
surrendered, and there being nothing left for the Navy 
to perform," applied to the Hon. John Y. Mason, 
then Secretary of the Navy, "for permission to cir- 
cumnavigate and thoroughly explore the Dead Sea." 
That was certainly a peculiar request for a man to 
make immediately on the heels of participation in a 
war that had little sanction in righteousness. Lynch, 
who was of a decidedly religious bent of mind, must 
have found a welcome allurement in his plans to ex- 
plore the very heart of the Holy Land. His request 
was granted on July 31, 1847. 

Lynch made preparations for his expedition with 
rare foresight. He had two metallic boats made, in 
sections, and engaged a mechanic to go with him, a 
man "whose skill would be necessary in taking apart 
and putting together the boats,' ' which he named 
Fanny Mason and Fanny Skinner, the first undoubt- 
edly in honor of a member of Secretary Mason's fam- 

189 



iqo THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

ily. He also saw to it that he was well supplied with 
arms, ammunition, tents, American Flags, etc. 

On Friday, Nov. 26, 1847, in command of the 
United States storeship Supply, Lynch weighed anchor 
at 10.15, and stood down New York bay. Students 
of the curious in literature find the log of this young 
Naval officer interesting reading. He was admirably 
posted in the world's history, and his entries fre- 
quently reflect the reactions of historic spots on the 
naive mood of his thought. We give one, as his Old 
Glory gleamed in the sun off Cape Trafalgar on Dec. 
19. "Made Cape Trafalgar, and sailed over the scene 
of the great conflict between the fleet of England and 
the combined fleets of France and Spain. Here, the 
great Collingwood broke the opposing line. There the 
noble Nelson, the terror of his foes and the pride of 
his country, nobly, but prematurely fell, his last pulsa- 
tion an exultant throb, as the shout of victory rang in 
his ears. Had he lived, his noble nature would have 
freed itself from the thraldom of a syren." 

On went Lynch, with his Stars and Stripes thread- 
ing a way through the Mediterranean, to the Bos- 
phorus, Constantinople, and then down to Sidon and 
Tyre. On March 28, 1848, he anchored under Mount 
Carmel, before the walled village of Haifa. On 
March 31, he sent to Acre for horses, "and hoisted out 
the two Fannies and loaded them with our own ef •■ 
fects." Then he set up a staff and "for the first time, 
without the consular precincts, the American flag was 
raised in Palestine." 

On April 1, the Supply weighed anchor and stood 
close inshore to land provisions. The two small metal 



FLAG GOES DOWN THE JORDAN 191 

boats also arrived and were hauled up to "a green 
spot beside Belus, and a short distance from the sea." 
An illustration of the camp at this spot, given in 
Lynch's "Narrative of the United States' Expedition 
to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea," from which 
we derive our story for this chapter, shows Old Glory 
at the top of a staff near two tents, the little boats, 
hauled up, near by, and the Supply distant on the 
horizon. 

On April 3, 1848, after much vexatious haggling 
with native officials, the two Fannies were mounted 
on trucks drawn by camels, and, with Old Glory fly- 
ing over them, the little party set out for the Sea of 
Galilee. On April 4, they crossed the plain of Acre. 
The next day found them passing through "the nar- 
rowest tract on the coast of Syria which was never 
subdued by the Israelites, and through the narrowest 
part of the land of the tribe of Ashur into that of 
Zebulon." Lynch gives us a word-sketch of his little 
expedition at this point. It is worth repeating here: 
"The metal boats, with the flags flying, mounted on 
carriages drawn by huge camels, ourselves, the mounted 
sailors in single file, the loaded camels, the sherif and 
the sheik with their tufted spears and followers, pre- 
sented a glorious sight." 

Then came trouble for the two Fannies and their 
Flags. Lynch had reached "a broken and rocky coun- 
try' ' where he "encountered much difficulty with the 
boats." The road was rugged, had never been crossed 
by wheel-carriages before, and was cut by ridges and 
hollows. In two days the little boats had been dragged 
up fifteen hundred feet from the plain of Acre. From 



192 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

that elevation, Lynch had his first view of the Sea of 
Galilee and, while profoundly moved by the sight, 
wrote in a practical Yankee vein, "How in the world 
are the boats ever to be got down this rocky and pre- 
cipitous path, when we are compelled to alight and 
lead our horses? From hence is a sheer descent." 

Nightfall of April 7, 1848, saw the Fannies on the 
"brink of the high and steep range which overlooked 
the lake to the west." Old Glory was unfurled in 
sight of Galilee. The following day, Lynch proudly 
wrote, "Took all hands up the mountain to bring the 
boats down. Many times we thought that they would 
rush into the sea. Every one did his best, and at length 
success crowned our efforts. With their flags flying, 
we carried them triumphantly beyond the walls unin- 
jured, and, amid a crowd of spectators, launched them 
upon the blue waters of the Sea of Galilee. Buoyantly 
floated the two Fannies, bearing the Stars and Stripes, 
the noblest flag of freedom now waving in the world. 
Since the time of Josephus and the Romans, no vessel 
of any size has sailed upon this sea, and for many, 
many years, but a solitary vessel has furrowed its 
surface." 

So it happened that on a bright day in April, 1848, 
the Fanny Mason led the way, followed by the 
Fanny Skinner, steering directly for the outlet of the 
river Jordan, "with awnings spread and colours fly- 
ing." After a number of exciting adventures in shoot- 
ing the rapids of the river, the two boats, with Flags 
at their sterns, entered the Dead Sea at 3:25 P. M., 
April 18, 1848. 

Lynch circumnavigated the Dead Sea, and finished 



FLAG GOES DOWN THE JORDAN 193 

his work early in May. On the morning of the 8th 
of the month, he constructed "a float with a flagstaff 
fitted to it." The next morning, he rowed out in the 
Fanny Skinner and moored this float, with Old Glory 
fluttering above it, in eighty fathoms of water. In the 
afternoon the boats were taken apart and were started 
on the road overland to the Mediterranean, where 
Lynch joined them later. 

One incident of this adventurous expedition is well 
worth preservation in this book. On April 28, 1848, 
Lynch received word of the death of ex-President John 
Quincy Adams. The next day, he went out upon the 
surface of the Dead Sea, in the Fanny Mason, with the 
Stars and Stripes displayed and with a heavy gun 
mounted in the bow of the boat. "Twenty-one minute- 
guns were fired, the reports reverberating loudly and 
strangely amid the cavernous recesses of the lofty and 
barren mountains." 



XXXV 

Stars and Stripes at Fort Sumter 

THE first page of the greatest chapter in our coun- 
try^ history of Old Glory was written when 
Confederate batteries opened fire on the Stars and 
Stripes that flew over Fort Sumter in April, 1861. The 
Civil War was a struggle for the salvation of the Flag. 
The North saw in its thirty-four stars a family of States 
that must not be broken. Horace Greeley's "erring 
sisters" were not to go out over the national threshold 
and take their stars with them. The South strove to 
destroy the integrity of the Constellation that had been 
so many years in coming from misty nebula to gleam- 
ing reality. She would split North America with a line 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, shut out the lower 
Mississippi from northern trade, unless controlled as 
she dictated, and force the North to reshape the Stars 
and Stripes, mournfully removing a group of stars that 
had been splendid in history. 

At that time no man on earth knew that the unity 
of the United States of America is figured in the Heav- 
ens in an eternal sign. As Beauregard's guns fired their 
first shells at Sumter, a mighty constellation, Cygnus, 
the Swan, was approaching the zenith. Near it trav- 
eled Lyra, the group of stars that, as some men hold, 
gave our fathers the thought of the constellation in our 

194 



STARS AND STRIPES AT SUMTER 195 

Flag. In the middle ages, Cygnus, since it resembled 
a gigantic cross, was called "The Cross of Calvary." 
Years after the Civil War had closed, an astronomer 
pointed his telescope at the heart of this Cross and, to 
his astonishment, saw the faint glimmer of a universe 
in the making. This film of silver against the night 
took shape in the field of his vision, became a North 
America of a myriad stars. It is known to-day as the 
"North America Nebula." The batteries of Moultrie 
and Morris Island could not destroy the stars of Old 
Glory, for above those stars, in the silent night, was 
hung the United States within the Cross. 

Yet the South loved the Flag, even through the bit- 
ter years from 1861 to 1865. She tried to imitate it 
in her own standards, under which and for which she 
fought so magnificently. There were instances when 
Old Glory was insulted, torn, even buried in the 
ground, south of Mason and Dixon's Line. But there 
ran a current of memory through Southern hearts, a 
thrill that was alive with thoughts of the Old Glory 
of Washington, Greene, Morgan, Marion, Sumter, 
Pickens, Harry Lee and Andrew Jackson. We have 
one little story, out of many, to prove what we are 
saying, and will give it later, in another chapter. 

We return to Sumter. During the afternoon of 
April 13, 1861, the Stars and Stripes that had waved 
in defiance over the fort, although the target of a con- 
centrated fire and with its staff scarred in nine places 
by shells, was shot away and fell among glowing cin- 
ders. Peter Hart, an old servant of Major Anderson 
who was in command, took the Flag from Lieut. Hall 
who had rescued it from the cinders, and, climbing the 



iq6 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

splintered staff with it in his arms, nailed it in place 
again. This act, performed in sight of Moultrie where, 
in 1776, Sergeant Jasper had rescued and planted the 
Palmetto Flag on the parapet, gave the keynote to the 
North at the opening of the great War. From the 
States of the North Atlantic seaboard to the States of 
the trans-AUeghany and northern Mississippi River 
sections, ran the cry, "The Old Flag has been fired 
upon !" with an echoing refrain. "We must set it up 
again, and hold it on high!" The Stars and Stripes 
became instantly a flaming torch of war for the North, 
and its hold on the devotion of its people grew in 
strength and in its power of calling forth expressions 
of passionate loyalty, as the struggle continued. 

We open the pages of books and newspapers of the 
year 1861, and read columns of matter literally aglow 
with Old Glory. Well nigh every oration and fully 
three-fourths of the multitude of poems written, con- 
tain references to the Flag. Many a speaker and writer, 
who commenced their speeches, articles and poems in 
a subdued mood, found themselves swept away by the 
tides of their feelings, when they came to the point of 
introducing Old Glory. We give a few passages from 
brief newspaper reports of April, 1861 : 

On April 19, at Kingston, N. Y., John B. Steele, 
who presided at a meeting, said on taking the chair: 

"It must never be supposed that the flag could be desecrated 
without touching the soul of every genuine American. No mat- 
ter what it must cost, the Stars and Stripes must wave. But 
one heart beats here and that is the true American heart." 



STARS AND STRIPES AT SUMTER 197 

When the scholars of the Newburyport (Mass.) 
High School raised Old Glory near their building on 
April 24, Caleb Cushing said : 

"Long may this glorious flag wave above our heads the ban- 
ner of victory and the symbol of our national honor." 

The Independent, New York City, in its issue for 
April 25, 1861, gives us a composite picture of the 
second Sunday that followed the firing on Sumter: 

"Dr. Bethune's sermon was from the text 'In the name of 
our God we will set up our banners.' In Dr. Bellows' church 
the choir sang 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' which was vig- 
orously applauded. At Grace Church, Dr. Taylor began by 
saying 'The Star-Spangled Banner has been insulted.' Dr. 
Osgood's text was, 'Lift up a standard to the people.' " 

Down from Massachusetts, to appear in the Press 
of New York, came stirring sentences from Wendell 
Phillips and Edward Everett. The former stated the 
position of the entire North, as pictured in the attitude 
of the new President, Abraham Lincoln: 

"When Abraham Lincoln swore to support the Constitution 
and the laws of the United States, he was bound to die under 
the flag of Fort Sumter, if necessary." 

Everett, in his address at Boston on April 27, gave 
a remarkably accurate statement of the sudden trans- 
figuration of Old Glory through the smoke and fire of 
Sumter : 

"Why is it that the flag of the country, always honored, 
always beloved, is now, all at once, worshipped, I may say, 
with the passionate homage of this whole people? Why does 
it float, as never before, not merely from arsenal and mast- 
head, but from tower and steeple, from the public edifice, the 



198 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

temple of Science and the private dwelling ? Let Fort Sumter 
give the answer." 

As we examine the files of Northern papers for that 
ominous month of April, we come upon frequent edi- 
torial allusions to the Stars and Stripes. They always 
present it as the symbol of a united people, as an em- 
blem that has been foully insulted and that must be 
defended with the full limit of all resources. Here 
are three excerpts: 

"Henceforth each man, high and low, must take his position 
as a patriot or a traitor, as a foe or a friend of his country, 
as a supporter of the flag of the Stars and Stripes or of the 
rebel banner." 

Philadelphia Press. 

"The cannon which bombarded Sumter awoke strange echoes, 
and touched forgotten chords in the American heart. Ameri- 
can loyalty leaped into instant life, and stood radiant and 
ready for the fierce encounter. From one end of the land to 
the other, in the crowded streets of cities and in the solitude 
of the country, wherever the splendor of the Stars and Stripes, 
the glittering emblem of our country's glory, meets the eye, 
come forth shouts of devotion and pledges of aid." 

New York Times. 

"We know no cause save to wipe an insult from our flag, 
and to defend and maintain an assailed Government and a 
violated Constitution. We care not who is President, or what 
political party is in power; so long as they support the honor 
and the flag of our country, we are with them. Those who are 
not, are against us, against our flag, and against our Govern- 
ment. 'Take your places in line!' The American flag trails 
in the dust." 

Philadelphia Enquirer. 

A voice from Kentucky, from the borderland of the 
seceding States, is well worth bringing back, if only 
for its ringing tones. The Hon. Archie Dixon said, at 



STARS AND STRIPES AT SUMTER 199 

the opening of his address at Louisville on April 21, 
1861: 

"Whose flag is that which waves over us? To whom does 
it belong ? Is it not yours, is it not our own Stars and Stripes, 
and do we mean ever to abandon it? That flag has ever 
waved over Kentucky soil with honor and glory. It is our 
flag, it is Kentucky's flag. When that flag is trailed in the 
dust and destroyed, I pray Heaven that the earth may be de- 
stroyed with it, for I do not wish, and I trust I shall never 
look upon, its dishonor. It is our flag, ours while we have a 
country and a Government. I shall never surrender that flag. 
I have loved it from boyhood, and have watched it every- 
where, and imagine it in this dark hour still waving amid the 
gloom, and feel that its stars will still shine forth in the 
smoke of battle, and lead our country forth to honor and 
glory." 

The Hon. Archie Dixon's sentences were rather 
staccato in their broken eloquence. But he voiced the 
sentiments of thousands of men throughout the North 
in 1861, who actually feared for the life of the Gov- 
ernment and dreaded the possibility of the destruction 
of the Stars and Stripes. Old Glory was indeed the 
flame that led to war. 

If we could go back nearly sixty years and find our- 
selves in New York City on April 21, 1861, and stand- 
ing in Union Square near the equestrian statue of 
George Washington, we could get into our minds and 
our souls the whole spirit of that tremendous hour in 
our national history. On that day New York was given 
over to mass-meetings and addresses, the principal 
meetings being in Union Square. Major Anderson 
with his officers, was there from the battered walls 
of Sumter, and he had brought with him the Old Glory 
of Sumter, which was placed on the arms of the bronze 



200 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

Washington. Fortunately, we have complete records 
of all the addresses delivered in Union Square on that 
day. We glance over them rapidly and select a few 
burning paragraphs that were fired by the presence of 
Sumter's "smoke-stained banner." 

Rev. Dr. Spring, of the Brick Church, before his 
opening prayer, spoke briefly : 

"When I think of the little band of men who took such a 
noble part in the struggle at Fort Sumter, maintaining the 
flag of their country while burning fires were about them 
(turning to Major Anderson and the other officers present), I 
feel cheered. The dead lips of the Father of his Country speak 
to you and to me. And what do they say? 'United we stand 
— divided we fall.' " 

Then stepped forward General John A. Dix, the 
chairman of the meeting, who, only three months be- 
fore, when Secretary of the Treasury, had written his 
famous letter to New Orleans that closed with the 
bugling words, "If any one attempts to haul down the 
American flag, shoot him on the spot !" You can im- 
agine the wild cheering when he said, pointing to 
Major Anderson and to the Old Glory in the arms of 
Washington, 

"There hangs the flag under which they upheld the honor of 
our country; and its tattered condition shows the desperate 
defence they made." 

Soon after General Dix had finished speaking, Sen- 
ator E. D. Baker of Oregon, who was to die within 
six months while leading his men at Ball's Bluff, gave 
one of his spirited speeches so characteristic of his 
brave, imaginative thought. It was punctuated with 



STARS AND STRIPES AT SUMTER 201 

tremendous cheering, from the moment he began with 
the first sentence to the words at the close. We copy 
a few outstanding sentences : 

"The hour for conciliation is past. It may return; but not 
to-morrow, nor next week. It will return when that tattered 
flag (pointing to the flag of Fort Sumter) is avenged. — The 
hour of conciliation will come back when again the ensign of 
the Republic will stream over every rebellious fort of every 
Confederate State. — I am not here to speak timorous words of 
peace, but to kindle the spirit of manly, determined war. I 
speak in the midst of the Empire State, amid scenes of past 
suffering and past glory; the defences of the Hudson above 
me ; the battlefield of Long Island before me, and the statue of 
Washington in my very face, the battered and unconquered 
flag of Sumter waving in his hands. . . . To have star after 
star blotted out! (Cries of 'Never, Never!') — to have stripe 
after stripe obscured — (Cries of 'No! No!') — to have glory 
after glory dimmed; these are infinitely worse than blood!" 
(Tremendous cheers). 

Senator Baker was followed by Robert J. Walker 
who said, in the course of his address: 

"This is the question now to be decided: have we a Union, 
have we a flag, are the Stars and Stripes a reality or a fiction ? 
— If we are defeated, the last experiment of self-government 
will have failed. We will have no flag, we will have no 
government, no country, and no Union." 

Note how Walker placed the Flag first in his four 
prerequisites of nationality. His words were followed 
by a letter from Archbishop Hughes, which was read 
from the platform. It closed with these words on 
Old Glory: 

"It is now fifty years since I took the oath of allegiance to 
this country under its title of the United States of America. 
The Government of the United States was then, as it is now, 



202 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

symbolized by a national flag, popularly called 'The Stars and 
Stripes.' (Loud applause). This has been my flag, and shall 
be to the end. (Cheers). I trust it is still destined to display 
in the gales that sweep every ocean, and amid the gentle 
breezes of many a distant shore, as I have seen it in foreign 
lands, its own peculiar waving lines of beauty. May it live 
and continue to display those same waving lines of beauty 
whether at home or abroad, for a thousand years and after- 
wards as long as Heaven permits, without limit of duration." 

While that meeting was in tumultuous progress, an- 
other one was being conducted on a stand on the north- 
west corner of the Square. There, David S. Codding- 
ton said, during his speech : 

"Do you wonder to-day to see that flag flying over all our 
reawakened national life, no longer monopolized by masthead, 
steeple or liberty pole, but streaming forth a camp signal 
from every private hearthstone." 

Among the speakers on the stand at the southwest 
side of the Square, was C. H. Smith. He reached his 
high notes of patriotism in these words, 

"We have assembled in one common brotherhood, to take 
measures for the protection of that glorious old flag, which had 
been borne through the Revolution of '76, baptized in the 
blood of our forefathers, and is sacred to the memory of liberty 
and popular institutions. . . . We won't submit. To-day the 
common sentiment that thrills the common heart of the North 
is, Our country and our country's flag." 

On a stand before the Old Everett House, at the 
north side of Union Square, a slender, graceful figure 
stood. Professor O. M. Mitchell, the astronomer, later 
a Major General in the Union Army, was speaking. 
As he spoke, in words that were frank, inspiring, "fired 
with nervous eloquence and patriotism," the crowd 



STARS AND STRIPES AT SUMTER 203 

about him stood hushed. His address gives us the 
very soul of the North in April, 1861 : 

"I owe allegiance to no State, and never did, and, God help- 
ing me, I never will. A poor boy, working my way with my 
own hands, at the age of twelve years turned out to take care 
of myself as best I could, and beginning by earning but four 
dollars a month, I worked my way onward until this glorious 
Government gave me a chance at the Military Academy at 
West Point. There I landed with a knapsack on my back, 
and, I tell you God's truth, just a quarter of a dollar in my 
pocket. There I swore allegiance to the Government of the 
United States." 

We have given this bit of autobiography, word for 
word as General Mitchell gave it from that stand, as 
it furnishes a background to his intense patriotism as 
revealed in his pathetic close to his address, which we 
now quote: 

"There was a man of your city who had a beloved wife and 
two children, depending upon his personal labor day by day 
for their support. He went home and said, 'Wife, I feel it 
is my duty to enlist and fight for my country.' 'That's just 
what I've been thinking of, too,' said she ; 'God bless you and 
may you come back without harm. But if you die in defence 
of the country, the God of the widows and the fatherless will 
take care of me and my children.' That same wife knew pre- 
cisely where her husband was to pass as he marched away. 
She took her position on the pavement, and finding a flag, she 
begged leave just to stand beneath those sacred folds and take 
a last look on him whom she, by possibility, might never see 
again. The husband marched down the street ; their eyes met ; 
a sympathetic flash went from heart to heart ; she gave a shout 
and fell senseless upon the pavement, and there she lay in a 
swoon. She was ready to meet this tremendous sacrifice upon 
which we have entered, and I trust you are all ready. I am 
ready. God help me to do my duty. I am ready to fight in 
the ranks or out of the ranks. I only ask to be permitted to 
act; and in God's name give me something to do." 



204 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

We have printed in italics the little flag-scene at 
the center of this quotation. Who of us can imagine 
the result of General Mitchell's words in the minds 
and the feelings of his hearers, on that day nearly 
sixty years ago? A footnote to a newspaper report 
of his address, says, "The scene that followed the close 
of Professor Mitchell's eloquent and patriotic remarks 
baffles description." 

We have tried to reproduce the feeling of the North 
after the news of the firing on Sumter's Flag had trav- 
eled through all its cities, towns and villages. No 
pages that we could write would give any conception 
of the incarnation of nationality of that momentous 
April, 1861, when the North stood face to face with a 
death-struggle for the Stars and Stripes, so dramatic- 
ally vivid as the passionate words of men who then 
lived and suffered, but are now for the vastly greater 
part, gone, forever. They loved Old Glory. 



XXXVI 

The Flag Goes to the Front 

IN reply to Lincoln's call, Northern regiments began 
their journey to the front that was to be for four 
heavy years a line of fire dividing the Nation into two 
peoples. New York City was the meeting-place of 
converging channels along which traveled the men of 
New England and of the Empire State's cities and 
towns. A Massachusetts man had received the call 
to arms while plowing in the field where his great- 
great grandfather, also at the plow, had heard the cry 
that sent him on the run to his musket and to Lexing- 
ton. A nineteen-year-old boy of a regiment of the 
same State, dying in the streets of Baltimore, had 
raised himself on one arm and cried, "All hail to the 
Stars and Stripes !" Men saw, as in a vision, the past 
sweep of their country's history culminating in one 
moment of terrific import. They knew but one symbol 
of that history, the Flag, and they displayed it with 
a fervor of devotion that was both glorious and pa- 
thetic. 

The day came for the departure of New York's 
Seventh Regiment. A newspaper reporter strolled over 
from old Newspaper Row to Cortlandt street, and this 
is what he saw: "The Stars and Stripes was every- 

205 



206 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

where, from the costliest silk, twenty, thirty, forty feet 
in length, to the homelier bunting, down to the few 
inches of painted calico that a baby's hand might 
wave. Cortlandt street showed a gathering of flags, a 
perfect army of them. They were not, in that com- 
paratively brief space from Broadway to the Jersey 
City ferry, to be numbered by dozens or by scores. 
Every building seemed like 'Captains of Fifties.' It 
was flag, flag, from every window from the first floor 
to the roof, from every doorway; in short, it was flag, 
flag, till the wearied eye refused the task of counting 
them. Such was the display along the route of the 
Seventh. Such is and will be the route for all noble 
troops entering our City from the New England 
States." 

Behind that screen of Old Glories on Cortlandt street, 
there is a scene that must not fail reproduction here. 
We are told, by a paper of 5 6i, that the "unprece- 
dented demand for flags rendered it impossible for the 
manufacturers to get one up in less than ten or twelve 
days." As there were at that time very few plants in 
the country equipped for making flags, and, as the 
demand for them was immediate and insistent, loyal 
women and girls volunteered to furnish all the Stars 
and Stripes that were needed. In one little group of 
women and girls at work on an Old Glory, in New 
York City during that third week of April, 1861, four 
generations were represented. The oldest woman, sev- 
enty years of age, had memories of George Washing- 
ton. As she plied her needle, "tears fell on the bunting 
while she recounted vivid recollections of the war of 
1812." 



THE FLAG TO THE FRONT 207 

A New England regiment on the eve of depar- 
ture for Washington, found at the last moment that 
they had no Flag. One of their officers told his sister 
of their predicament. At dawn of the next day, she 
came to his room and knocked on the door. In her 
hands was a Stars and Stripes that she, with girl friends 
summoned to her aid, had made during the night. The 
boy took the Flag in his arms and kissed it. There, 
indeed, was an Old Glory for which to fight and to die. 

But, even though many patriotic women and girls 
gave of their time to the making of flags, there were 
regiments that reached Washington without standards 
or with extremely poor representations of the Stars 
and Stripes. Three or four graphic incidents, taken 
from a long list of contemporary accounts of flag-pres- 
entations, will show how the lack of colors was rem- 
edied. 

When the Third Maine Infantry, commanded by 
Col. O. O. Howard, later a Major General in the 
Union Army, went through New York, the Maine men 
of the city presented them with a Flag that had been 
made especially for the purpose. One manly sentence 
stands out from the speech of presentation: "Your 
brethren in this hour of battle would give you a strong 
man's gift, your country's flag." 

On June 13, '61, "a magnificent silk banner was pre- 
sented by the ladies of the Relief Committee of New 
York city" to the Sixth New York Infantry. After, 
the Rev. S. H. Weston had made his speech of presen- 
tation, "Col. Wilson received the flag from the hands 
of Mrs. George Strong and, carrying it into the ranks, 
gave it into the hands of the color-sergeant. Col. Wil- 



208 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

son and the color-sergeant then returned to the foot 
of the steps, both grasping the banner of liberty. The 
Colonel seemed deeply affected and his utterance was 
choked for some time. His wife stood on the stoop, 
regarding him with tearful emotion." 

The Second Wisconsin Infantry, coming down from 
the Northwest, reached Martinsburg, then in Virginia, 
in July, '6i. It was significant of the attitude of the 
people of the section, later to be citizens of the loyal 
State of West Virginia, that the women of the town 
made and gave to this regiment "a beautiful national 
ensign." One of those loyal women made the presenta- 
tion-speech, which we give in full: "Soldiers of the 
Wisconsin Regiment, we have met this bright and* 
beautiful morning to present to you this emblem of 
our national glory as a token of our high regard for 
you and your cause; we welcome you into our midst 
bearing this flag of our glorious country, trusting in 
God. This flag has protected the oppressed of all 
lands, who have sought its shelter, and so long as this 
flag shall wave the oppressed shall be free. Believing 
from what you have already accomplished, it will 
never be disgraced in your hands, you will accept this 
token from the ladies of Martinsburg, Berkeley 
County, Virginia." 

Out in Michigan, on June 4, 1861, a delegation of 
thirty-four young girls, representing all the States of 
the United States, and dressed in red, white and blue, 
came to the cantonment at Grand Rapids. With them 
was a Flag that they had made for the Third Regi- 
ment, Michigan Infantry, then quartered at Grand 
Rapids. 



THE FLAG TO THE FRONT 209 

The annals of the Fifth Massachusetts Infantry, 
Col. Lawrence, furnish us with an interesting flag- 
episode. Early in the war, this regiment, then in 
Washington, received orders to march over "the Long 
Bridge into Virginia, and filed out of the Treasury 
Building." Then they discovered, to their dismay, 
"that they had only their State color, not having re- 
ceived the national ensign." Immediately a search 
was made for a Stars and Stripes. It chanced that cer- 
tain women of the city had made "a beautiful new 
cashmere flag, of the finest quality," for a local hotel. 
Massachusetts men in Washington begged for this Flag, 
obtained it, mounted horses and rode after the march- 
ing regiment. When they came up with Lawrence 
and his men, the regiment was halted and Old Glory 
was handed over with an impromptu but impressive 
ceremony. 

Baltimore, determined on wiping out the stain of 
April 19, gave Flags, made by its patriotic women, to 
a number of Northern regiments as they passed through 
on the road to Washington and to Abraham Lincoln. 
Both the Sixth and the Eighth Massachusetts Regi- 
ments received Old Glories in that city. In the case 
of the Sixth, the presentation had a deep significance, 
as that regiment was the one that suffered in the un- 
fortunate riot. As its Flag was given in July, it is 
probable that a detachment from the regiment was 
detailed from Washington to go over to Baltimore to 
receive the Stars and Stripes. The Second Massachu- 
setts Infantry received its Old Glory from the women 
of Harper's Ferry on July 3, 1861. 

These gifts of Flags to Northern Regiments soon 



210 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

came to be a rule of the day. We find a number of 
instances, illustrative of the deep sympathy between 
the Union States, where Stars and Stripes were sent 
across country from one State to another. No more 
dramatic instance of this expression of kinship be- 
tween States during the Civil War can be found for 
this chapter, than that of the Flag given by Massa- 
chusetts to the Ninth Iowa Infantry. This regiment, 
at the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, 1862, fought for 
ten solid hours after a forced march of forty-two miles, 
without a Flag under which to rally. Word of their 
valor reached Massachusetts and, five months after the 
battle, an Old Glory, made by women of Boston, came 
to them in camp. We find the following in their rec- 
ords : "Camp Ninth Iowa, near Helena, Arkansas, Sun- 
day, August 3, 1862. The regiment was formed at 
2 P. M., to receive the stand of beautiful colors sent 
by a committee of ladies of Boston, Mass., as a testi- 
monial of their appreciation of our conduct at Pea 
Ridge. Colonel Vandever delivered a short speech at 
the presentation and seemed much affected, as did 
many others present, at the respect and honor thus 
manifested by the noble women of a distant State, and 
at the associations connected with the occasion." 

This Flag had a magnificent history, won for it by 
Iowa men who fought under its folds. At last, shot 
to pieces, "no longer fit for service, it was placed on 
the retired list and returned to the original donors in 
Massachusetts." Within a month, another Flag ar- 
rived from Boston, to take the place of the tattered Old 
Glory. The great story of that first Stars and Stripes 



THE FLAG TO THE FRONT 211 

of the Ninth Iowa will appear in another chapter of 
this history. 

And so it happened that hundreds of Old Glories 
went fluttering on their long roads to the front in 1861 
and 1862. In a book written in 1867, to commemorate 
the part the Northern women took in the Civil War, 
we find this passage: "The loyal soldier felt that he 
was fighting, so to speak, under the very eyes of his 
countrywomen, and he was prompted to high deeds of 
daring and valor by the thought. In the smoke and 
flame of battle, he bore, or followed the flag made and 
consecrated by their hands to his country's cause." 

One of those very women gave us, in her journal of 
the Civil War, a glimpse of Old Glory going forward 
at the front : "They have gone; they have all passed by. 
Nothing can be seen of them now but a long line of 
flashing bayonets, passing close under the brow of yon- 
der hill. A few hours pass on, and looking far away, 
over the hills, we see a long, dark line in motion. As 
they come out of the shadow of the hill, their bayonets 
begin to gleam. Now, in the sunshine, they look like 
a line of blazing light. They come pouring on, officers 
riding at the head of their various commands, colors 
and battle-flags waving on the air, some of them 
pierced and torn in many places, but borne all the 
more proudly, and guarded the more sacredly, for 
that!" 

We thought we had finished this chapter. We laid 
aside our manuscript, and closed our desk. And then, 
one of those marvelous bits of prose-painting that one 
so frequently comes upon in the books on the Civil 
War written by men who were in the heart and the 



212 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

heat of it as boys, came to us in all its subdued beauty. 
You will find it in General Morris Schaffs "The Battle 
of the Wilderness." Let us present it in a little panel 
by itself: 

"Two days of awful suspense for the North have 
gone by, and city is calling to city, village to village, 
neighborhood to neighborhood, What news from 
Grant?' Hour after hour draws on, and not a word 
from him. The village grocer has closed, and his habit- 
ual evening visitors have dispersed. The lights in the 
farm-houses have all gone out. Here and there a lamp 
blinks on the deserted, elm-shaded street, and in the 
dooryard of a little home on the back road off among 
the fields — the boy who went from there is a color- 
bearer lying in Hancock's front — a dog bays lonelily." 



XXXVII 

Old Glory's Devoted Followers 

IN August, 1863, Dahlgren's fleet moved up to attack 
Fort Sumter, on whose walls the Stars and Stripes 
had been shot away on April 13, 1861. In the fleet 
was the monitor Catskill, commanded by George W. 
Rodgers, son of Commodore Rodgers of the War of 
1812. After the Cat skill had gone in toward her fight- 
ing position, Commander Rodgers withdrew her from 
range and, stepping into a small boat, was rowed over 
to the flagship to get a Stars and Stripes which he lov- 
ingly called "my own flag." It was the one under 
which he had fought, on the Catskill, during the April, 
'63, attack on Sumter. He wished to have it over him 
and his ironclad through the coming fight. 

When Rodgers returned with his Old Glory in his 
arms, the father of the writer of this book met him 
on the deck of the Catskill. Rodgers' Old Glory was 
hoisted, and then the two men went up into the iron 
pilot-house to watch the effect of the shot on the walls 
of Sumter. A shell struck the house and Rodgers' 
dead body fell into the arms of his loved comrade. 
A contemporary account says that "his body was 
wrapped in the same flag and was conveyed on board 
the flag-ship which but a few minutes before he had 
left." 

213 



214 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

That is the story of the Old Glory referred to in 
the Dedication of this book. A blood-stained fragment 
of that Flag is before the writer as he begins this chap- 
ter. H. Clay Trumbull, a Chaplain-in-Chief of the 
Commandery-in-Chief of the Loyal Legion, tells us that 
George W. Rodgers was "a naval Havelock or Hedley 
Vicars," one of the finest men in the Northern service. 
His Flag was to him a part of his religion. 

Charles G. Halpine, writing under the pseudonym 
of "Miles O'Reilly" in 1863, contributed a stanza in 
a rich brogue, mourning the death of Rodgers: 

"Woe's me ! George Rodgers lies 
With dim and dreamless eyes. 
He has airly won the prize 
Of the sthriped and starry shroud." 

The "idolatrous love for the Stars and Stripes," as 
a Southerner rather contemptuously referred to the 
passionate devotion of the North to Old Glory, was 
mirrored, time and time again during the great War, 
in the lives of individual men. Even women were 
caught up in the sweep of ardent patriotism at the 
front, and gave more than one proof, while under fire, 
of their willingness to surfer all things for their Flag. 
A group of events, each minute in the tremendous pan- 
orama of the war's tumult, yet glowing with the in- 
tense flame of a loyalty that ever burned fiercely, will 
suffice to reveal the love of the soldier for his Stars 
and Stripes, the supreme symbol of his country. 

On April 14, 1864, Major L. F. Booth fell while 
fighting against heavy odds, defending Fort Pillow. 
One of the few survivors of his command saved the 



OLD GLORY'S FOLLOWERS 215 

blood-stained Flag of the fort and carried it with him, 
though desperately wounded, to the hospital at Mound 
City. There, Mrs. Booth, the widow of the former 
commander of the regiment at Fort Pillow, found her 
husband's Stars and Stripes in the hands of the wound- 
ed soldier. She at once went to the remnant of Major 
Booth's old command, that had been incorporated with 
the Sixth United States Heavy Artillery, taking the 
Flag with her. She stood before them with their Old 
Glory in her arms, and said, "Boys, I have given to my 
country all I had to give, my husband, — and such a 
gift! Next to his dead self, the dearest object left to 
me in the world is that Flag, the Flag that waved in 
proud defiance over the works of Fort Pillow. Soldiers, 
this Flag I give to you, knowing that you will ever re- 
member the last words of my noble husband, 'Never 
surrender the Flag to traitors !' " Colonel Jackson re- 
ceived from her hand, in behalf of his command, the 
blood-soaked Flag, and called upon his regiment to re- 
ceive it as such a gift should be received. He and 
every man of his regiment fell on their knees and swore 
to avenge their fallen commander and never surrender 
the Flag. 

A group of Northern soldiers was imprisoned at 
Libby Prison in 1863. On July Fourth came news, 
brought in by an old slave, that Lee had been defeated 
at Gettysburg. At once, "the very walls of Libby 
quivered in the melody as five hundred joined in the 
chorus of the Battle Hymn of the Republic." And 
then those sick, starving fellows decided to have an 
Old Glory and display it. The Rev. C. C. McCabe, 
Chaplain of the One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio 



216 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

Regiment, one of the prisoners in the group, continues 
this story for us: "A man was found who wore a red 
shirt; another had a blue one; white (?) shirts were 
plenty. From a combination of these at last emerged 
the emblem of liberty with all its thirty-four stars. 
I never saw men gaze so long and earnestly at a flag 
before or since." 

Libby Prison had witnessed a similar scene on the 
preceding Fourth of July, when twenty-five men of 
the Ninth Massachusetts Infantry, including Timothy 
J. Regan of Company E, who had been imprisoned 
after being captured at Malvern Hill, made up their 
minds that they would have a real Old Glory. Accord- 
ing to the Boston Globe, "Regan offered his blue flan- 
nel shirt as a field for the stars. Other prisoners bought 
through the guards about four yards each of unbleached 
white cotton and a very poor quality of red worsted, 
which was torn lengthwise into strips to form the 
stripes. Pieces of white shirts were used for the stars, 
which Regan cut out; and the men set to work to 
fashion their flag with the needles and thread that 
they had been permitted to retain. The flag was not 
finished until the morning of the Fourth, when Regan 
climbed into the rafters, and there unfurled the ban- 
ner to the delight of the little band of patriots." 

There is a pretty sequel to this incident. This im- 
provised Old Glory was torn into twenty-two pieces, 
to prevent its falling into the hands of the Confed- 
erates. A piece was given to each man who had helped 
to make it. These pieces were concealed in the cloth- 
ing of the men and, later, carried away from Libby. 
After the War was over, Regan decided to get together 



OLD GLORY'S FOLLOWERS 217 

these fragments and recreate their Stars and Stripes. 
It was not until 1897, thirty-five years after the mak- 
ing of the Flag, that he secured the twenty-second 
piece and saw his Old Glory complete once more. This 
Flag, eleven feet nine inches by six feet seven inches, 
is now in the possession of the Thomas G. Stevenson 
Post 26, G. A. R., of Roxbury, Mass. 

But there were many men, penned within the walls 
of Southern prisons, who never caught a glimpse of the 
Flag they loved so deeply. Out from Andersonville 
came, in 1865, men who seemed to have emerged from 
"some strange outer world, some horrible land of dim- 
ness and groans." One day a company of them, shuf- 
fling by, was asked, "Boys, how did you live through 
it?" A grim old Tennesseean replied, instantly, 
straightening up as if to salute, " 'Twas the flag that 
kept us up." 

Old Glory nerved its followers to face Death, and 
there are many recorded instances of men and boys 
dying with the Flag as the last mental picture absolute 
in their thought. William Starr, of one of Ohio's regi- 
ments, was dying in a hospital in April, 1865. Word 
that Richmond had fallen was brought to him. "Now," 
said he, "I am ready to go. When I am gone, cover 
me with the Flag." In his last moments, a little boy 
came to bid him good-bye, carrying in his hands a tiny 
Flag. Starr's failing sight caught the gleam of the 
child's Stars and Stripes. He reached out, took it, 
waved it feebly down and up, once, and then, for him, 
no more the sight of Old Glory. That night a "splen- 
did silk flag" was brought in and laid over his body. 

Private Andrew McGurk, of the Eleventh Illinois In- 



218 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

fantry, lay near a window of a hospital in Nashville. 
His regiment had been terribly cut to pieces at Fort 
Donelson and Shiloh, and memories of those bitter 
fights surged through his mind. He whispered, "Fought 
till — almost — the — last — man — fell." There came a 
final lucid interval. A glance through the window 
gave him Old Glory floating from the dome of the 
Nashville Capitol. "Ah! the — old — flag! — it — waves 
— still." And Private Andrew McGurk was gone. 

Chaplain H. Clay Trumbull gives two dramatic evi- 
dences of devotion to Old Glory. The first follows: 
"After one of our battles in South Carolina, while 
preparations were making for another fight, I saw a 
newly appointed color-sergeant lying in line with the 
men, and tenderly shielding the colors with his body 
from a driving rainstorm. 

" 'Sergeant/ I said, T hear that the colonel has given 
you the colors to carry. I congratulate you.' 

" 'Yes, Chaplain,' he replied, looking down on his 
charge with affectionate pride; 'and I don't know of 
anything better than this that I'm fighting for.' " 

Here is the second incident. "In the first severe en- 
gagement of which I was a witness, our color-sergeant 
and one of the color-corporals were badly wounded, 
and were borne to the rear and laid on the ground side 
by side at the field hospital. As I knelt by the corporal 
his first words were: 

" T did what I could to guard the colors, Chaplain. 
I'd stand by them to the last.' 

" T know you would, Corporal. You were always 
faithful!' 

" 'Where's the regiment now?' he asked. 



OLD GLORY'S FOLLOWERS 219 

" It's gone on and finished its work,' I said. 

"'Glory!' he cried. 

"Just then the major of the regiment made his ap- 
pearance, the battle being over. At once the wounded 
sergeant called to me : 

" 'Chaplain, there's the major. Won't you ask him 
if the colors are safe? " 

Trumbull then continues with these words: "The 
colors were first in the thoughts of their soldier guard- 
ians, at the front and at the rear. Patriotism, loyalty, 
devotion, centered in the flag as a symbol, as it could 
not, in the nature of things, center in anything else. 
Soldiers came to love and honor the flag above all other 
visible objects." 

We cannot omit from this chapter at least one anec- 
dote illustrating the heroism of loyal women during 
the Civil War. Nashville, Tenn., was the only city in 
the seceding States that contained a number of genuine 
Unionists who had the courage to stand by their colors 
openly and in defiance of Southern sympathizers. In 
that brave little regiment of men and women was Mrs. 
Hetty McEwen, and her breed was not the kind to 
haul down Old Glory for any man. She was an old 
woman, in 1861, having been born while Washington 
was President. Six of her uncles fought at King's 
Mountain, in 1780, and four of them were killed in 
that wild fight. 

Hetty McEwen with her own fingers stitched togeth- 
er a Stars and Stripes. There was talk of secession in 
her neighborhood, and she intended to stand true to 
the Nation, and to have every one know her position. 
At length came a day of crisis. Her husband, Colonel 



220 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

McEwen, who had fought under Andrew Jackson, 
fastened a pole into one of the chimneys of their house 
and nailed his wife's Old Glory to it. 

We are glad to be able to quote a Civil War record 
at this point: "The hostility now became fiercer than 
ever. The Colonel was told that the flag must come 
down from that roof if the house had to be fired to 
bring it down. He asked his wife what they had better 
do about the flag, adding that he would sustain her in 
any course she thought best to adopt. 'Load me the 
shot-gun, Colonel McEwen,' said the heroic old wom- 
an. And he loaded it for her with sixteen buckshot in 
each barrel. 'Now,' added she, T will take the respon- 
sibility of guarding that flag. Whoever attempts to 
pass my door on his way to the roof for the star-span- 
gled banner under which my four uncles fell at King's 
Mountain, must go over my dead body.' " Old Glory 
stayed over Hetty McEwen's house, unmolested. 

When the Civil War broke out, the Hon. J. F. H. 
Claiborne was living on a cotton plantation in the far 
south-western corner of Mississippi. His only son was 
in the Confederate service, and his own sentiments were 
well known. To him came one day Captain Rockwell, 
of the Thirty-first Massachusetts Infantry, demanding 
that he give up a flag which was said to be in his home 
and was undoubtedly a Confederate standard. Clai- 
borne denied that he had any flag of that type. A rigid 
search was made. No flag appeared. Then Claiborne 
said, "Now, sir, you have failed to find a flag, but I con- 
fess I have one. I will never part with it. If you take 
me you shajl take it; and if you take it, you shall take 
me." 



OLD GLORY'S FOLLOWERS 221 

He then ordered a servant to bring a certain trunk. 
It was old and dilapidated. It was opened, and there, 
before Rockwell's astonished eyes, were a bundle of 
commissions and a moth-eaten Flag, a real Stars and 
Stripes. Claiborne smiled and said, "General Clai- 
borne, my father, had been ensign, lieutenant, captain 
and adjutant of the First Regiment of the United 
States, in Anthony Wayne's army; and this was the 
old flag of that regiment." 

So, after all's been said, there were Southern hearts 
in '61 that beat in tune to the music of the whispering 
folds of Old Glory. A captured Confederate officer 
told the truth when he remarked, "Oh, well, as to that, 
the Stars and Stripes are just the sauciest rag to fight 
under that ever was swung on a battle-field. I don't 
wonder they, like that flag." 



XXXVIII 

The Immortal Color-Bearers 

"But I have seen thee, bunting, 
To tatters torn upon the splintered staff, 
Or clutched to some young color-bearer's breast 
With desperate hands, 
Savagely struggled for." 

Walt Whitman. 

IN July, 1913, the writer went to Gettysburg and 
found himself one in a host of men with a million 
memories. After sunset, from the crest of Little Round 
Top, he watched the myriad fireflies weaving their deli- 
cate mantle of fire over a consecrated ground. As a far 
bugle sounded "taps," he wrote on a slip of paper these 
words : 

You men in the Grey and the Blue, 
There are boys in the dusk here with you. 

They gather in ranks, 

On your front, on your flanks, 
In the fire-fly maze and the dew. 

Again, in December, 1917, alone on the field, he 
stood at nightfall on Little Round Top. On the chill 
wind came the ghostly voices of the boys of Sedgwick's 
Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac, singing afar 
in the night as they swung along in their great march to 
Gettysburg. He saw them come in near Little Round 

222 



IMMORTAL COLOR-BEARERS 223 

Top, dusty, tired, indomitable, with their color- 
bearers carrying the Old Glories of many desperate 
fields. And then the vision vanished. But one young, 
slender color-bearer came to his side with a spectral 
Stars and Stripes, and pointed down to the line of me- 
morials where in July, 1863, many a Northern lad bore 
Old Glory into the whirlpool of action, fell and never 
rose again. And then he, too, faded into the darkness. 

Wisconsin. Gettysburg, July, '63. Meredith's 
Iron Brigade, the advance-guard of the Army of the 
Potomac, strikes the swinging flail of the onrushing 
Confederate left, to the north of Gettysburg town. 
The gray line, bursting into view, greets the Second 
Wisconsin Infantry with a volley. Down goes nearly 
a third of the regiment. Twenty-three of the thirty- 
three in the color-company are killed or wounded in 
thirty minutes. Soon the last color-bearer is killed. 
In the ranks of the Second Wisconsin is Private R. E. 
Davison, who has been wounded at Antietam while 
saving Old Glory. He runs to the side of the last 
staggering color-bearer, catches the Flag as it drops, 
turns to the regiment behind him and shouts, "Come 
on!" The men of the Northwest answer with a yell 
and follow him up to and into the Confederate lines, 
breaking them. 

Night comes. Beneath a Stars and Stripes so rid- 
dled and torn by bullets that it will never again wave 
over a field of battle, fifty men out of the regiment's 
three hundred of the morning, answer at roll-call. 

Minnesota. Gettysburg, July, '63. Longstreet, 
commanding the right wing of Lee's Army of Northern 
Virginia, has hurled brigades from his Corps upon 



224 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

Sickles' exposed line. The Union front is broken. Con- 
federate regiments are drifting through, aiming to 
crumple up Meade's left wing, take Little Round Top, 
and repeat their victory at Chancellorsville. The brig- 
ades of Barksdale and Kershaw, on the run, are pouring 
across the field. In the Peach Orchard and around 
Bigelow's Battery at the Trostle house, a demoniac 
conflict is raging. Hancock comes up on the gallop, 
rides straight into a vortex of flame, sees a regiment in 
line, reins in his horse and shouts, "What regiment is 
that?" Colonel Colville answers, "The First Minne- 
sota." "Do you see those lines?" cries Hancock, point- 
ing to the enrolling tide in gray. "Charge them !" 

On go the color-guard of those men from the North- 
west. Behind them and at their sides are points of 
loyal glittering bayonets. They reach a little brook, 
its bed dry from the summer heat. There they stand, 
faced and gripped on the flanks by three thousand 
rifles pouring lead into them in streams. Down goes 
Color-Sergeant Ellett P. Perkins, but the Stars and 
Stripes does not touch the ground. A corporal seizes 
it from his hand. He, too, struck by a bullet, staggers 
and hands the Flag to another corporal, who also pitches 
forward. But Corporal Dehn is at his side, and Old 
Glory still quivers in the tempest of lead. 

The little brook begins to trickle into life again, but 
now with Minnesota blood. Thank God, reinforce- 
ments arrive, and "the First Minnesota is relieved." 
Corporal Dehn alone of the color-guard is left, and he 
carries out a rent and tattered Old Glory at the head of 
forty-seven men of the two hundred and sixty-two 



IMMORTAL COLOR-BEARERS 225 

who fifteen minutes ago sprang into their bayonet 
charge. 

Michigan. Gettysburg, July, '63. A gray billow 
of men sweeps toward them. Above the rattle of mus- 
ketry sounds the triumphant rebel-yell. "Stand firm, 
Fourth Michigan! Stand firm!" shouts Col. Jeffords. 
Red flags, streaked with blue and with hostile stars, ap- 
pear in the drifting smoke, flapping as they come near- 
er, nearer. The billow breaks on the men of Michigan, 
forces them back into the deadly wheat-field. A swarm 
in gray leaps for the Stars and Stripes. Down sinks 
the color-guard, every man bayoneted or shot. An arm 
in gray shoots forward, wrenches the Flag from the 
grasp of a fallen corporal. Jeffords, hat off, sword in 
hand, rushes to save his loved Old Glory. A flash of 
bayonets, and he is pinned to the ground. Lieut.- 
Colonel Lumbard springs toward the Flag, crying, 
"Stand firm! Stand firm! This is the time for men 
to die." Old Glory becomes the center of desperate 
hand-to-hand fighting. Northern bayonets and butts 
of rifles do deadly work. The Flag of the Fourth 
Michigan and the body of its Colonel are saved. 

Pennsylvania. Gettysburg, July, '63. Twelve 
Old Glories face nearly double their number of Con- 
federate standards advancing upon them in Pickett's 
charge. It is high tide for the South at Gettysburg. 
With Armistead leading, the red banners burst through 
the Union line at the low stone wall and smother 
Cushing's Battery. Meade's army is severed at its 
center. Sixty yards away, the Seventy-second Pennsyl- 
vania is in leash, waiting the word to charge. An 
officer rides up on a badly wounded horse. "Sergeant, 



226 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

forward with your colors !" he cries. "Let the Rebels 
see it close to their eyes before they die." The color- 
sergeant, grasping the stump of his broken lance in both 
hands, waves the Stars and Stripes above his head and 
rushes, alone, toward the wall now crested with men 
in gray and their flaunting crimson flags. 

Men of the Seventy-second Pennsylvania, this is the 
soil of your own State. Up and at them ! Your color- 
sergeant is half way to the wall. A bullet strikes him. 
He spins round, totters and falls, dead. With a wild 
yell, you rush by him, taking up your Old Glory as 
you go. Now it is Pennsylvania against Virginia. At 
the "Bloody Angle," where a swirling mass of men 
struggles, around Old Glories and flags aflame with red, 
tossing and whirling above them, the flood of the gray 
invasion strikes a wall of blue, and stops. Armistead 
falls, dying, at the feet of a color-bearer of the Seventy- 
second Pennsylvania. 

Maine. Bull Run, July, '6l. Yesterday, July 20, 
the Seventh Maine Infantry was presented with a 
glorious silk Stars and Stripes, with slide, rings and 
battle-axe surmounting the staff, of solid silver, sent 
all the way from California to meet the regiment on its 
way to Bull Run. The regiment is now in action. 
Twice its men have charged almost to the muzzles of a 
Confederate battery. Color-Sergeant William J. Deane 
has fallen, mortally wounded, and Color-Corporal A. 
V. Moore, who took the Flag from Deane's hands, is 
lying dead beside it, near the enemy's lines. A body of 
Confederates dashes out to take Old Glory. The men 
from Maine shout, "We must have that flag!" Led 
by Colonel Charles D. Jameson, they charge on the 



IMMORTAL COLOR-BEARERS 227 

men in gray rapidly nearing the Flag, beat them back 
and rescue their color. 

Color-Sergeant Deane is dying on the grass close 
by a little brook. Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts has told 
him that his Flag is safe. Deane beckons to Chaplain 
Mines, who kneels and puts his ear close to the suf- 
ferer's mouth. "It's safe !" says Deane. "What," asks 
Mines, "the Flag?" Deane nods, smiles, closes his 
eyes, and dies. 

Delaware. Antietam, September, '62. The First 
Delaware Infantry is advancing through woods and 
corn fields. Suddenly it comes to a sunken road, or 
ravine, beyond which, behind a breastwork of sod 
and wooden rails, are heavy masses of Confederate 
infantry. The Stars and Stripes and the State color 
emerge from the stalks of corn. There is a thundering 
crash, a plunging volley from the breastwork, followed 
by an intense, withering fire. In five minutes, two hun- 
dred and eighty-six of the regiment's six hundred and 
thirty-five men are down, killed or wounded. One by 
one the color-bearers fall, but Old Glory goes on until 
it is within twenty yards of the breastwork, where the 
ninth and last of its heroic bearers drops dead. There 
is a dramatic struggle for the Stars and Stripes lying on 
the road. Five times the men in gray charge to capture 
the Flag, and each time they fall back, discomfited by 
the deadly fire of the men in blue. 

Delaware, will you give up your Old Glory, around 
which lie its fallen bearers? Captain Rickards calls 
for volunteers, and thirty men respond. They rush 
out into the open, down into the road where their 
Stars and Stripes lies with a boy's still hand upon it. 



228 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

A storm of lead smites them and twenty fall. Lieu- 
tenant Charles B. Tanner steps forward from the ranks 
and calls for men to aid him in another effort to rescue 
the Flag. Twenty men spring to his side. They run 
toward the Stars and Stripes. One after another they 
reel and fall in the whirlwind of bullets. But Tanner, 
his right arm shattered by a minie-ball, plunges on, 
drops on his knees by the Flag, seizes it in his left 
hand, leaps to his feet and returns with Old Glory. 

Rhode Island. Antietam, September, '62. The 
Fourth Rhode Island Infantry is on the extreme left 
of the Army of the Potomac. It sweeps across a rolling 
country, under a heavy artillery fire, and comes into 
brisk action with the Confederates in a cornfield. The 
regiments in gray are almost hidden in the thick, tall 
growth of corn, and their positions are determined 
mainly by the challenge of their rifle-fire. The Fourth 
Rhode Island reaches a low, round hill, on the crest of 
which, partly concealed, is a portion of a Confederate 
brigade. 

Union forces, coming to this hill from another 
angle, suddenly divert the volleys from its summit. 
They thrust up a Stars and Stripes, its Red, White and 
Blue plain above the yellow corn-stalks, as a signal 
to the Fourth Rhode Island. "We are firing on our 
own men," cries a Rhode Island officer. Then he gives 
the command to charge, and the Fourth Rhode Island 
dashes up the slope, its Old Glory in the lead. Out 
of the screen of corn on the crest crashes a sweeping 
fire. Color-bearer Thomas B. Tanner is killed, and his 
Flag is wrenched from his hands by a soldier in gray. 
The latter falls into the clutches of Lieutenant George 



IMMORTAL COLOR-BEARERS 229 

E. Curtis, and yields the Stars and Stripes after a sharp 
struggle. Above the tumult of Antietam ring the cheers 
of the boys of Rhode Island. 

Indiana. Stone River, December, '62. The Sixth 
Indiana Infantry is at the apex of a right angle. Twice 
the regiment has been attacked on this critical day, and 
now, a third assault, in a gray sea, sweeps upon it 
and envelops it on front, on right and on left. The 
Sixth runs a gauntlet of flame, with its colors plung- 
ing on in advance. Color-Sergeant John E. Tillman 
drops, wounded for the third time, with a ball through 
a knee. He hands the Stars and Stripes over to Cor- 
poral Carson, who instantly falls with a wound in his 
thigh. Three boys, Corporals Young, Meades and 
Harold, now bear Old Glory in quick succession; and 
all three are shot. 

Harold, a mere lad, beloved of the regiment, dies 
in saving the Stars and Stripes. His hands are the last 
to carry it through the gates of the storm of battle, 
and he falls on the threshold of safety. A recorder of 
the part the Sixth Indiana takes at Stone River, will 
write, in months to come, "Bitter tears were shed when 
Harold died, under the banner he had saved with his 
blood." 

Massachusetts. Fredericksburg, December, '62. 
Noon of a raw winter day. The Twenty-first Massa- 
chusetts Infantry is drawn up in the town, ready to 
cross the Rappahannock and assault the formidable 
Confederate works. They cross on the upper pontoon 
bridge, and at once rush toward the entrenched lines. 
The air about them becomes an inferno of projectiles 
which hiss, shriek and burst. Side by side race the 



230 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

Stars and Stripes and the State color, borne by Color- 
Sergeant Joseph H. Collins and Color-Corporal Barr. 
Sixty rods from that wall fringed with flame and 
smoke, both color-bearers fall. Sergeant Thomas Plun- 
kett springs to lift Old Glory as it trails toward the 
ground with its mortally wounded bearer; and Color- 
Corporal Wheeler stoops and loosens the grasp of the 
dying Barr from the staff of the white Massachusetts 
color. At the point nearest the Confederate infantry 
reached by boys in blue on this terrible day, a shell 
bursts on Plunkett and his Stars and Stripes. Both 
arms are torn from his body and his Flag is drenched 
in his blood. But Color-Corporal Brady H. Olney is 
at his side, and Old Glory again streams defiant in the 
gusts of shot and shell. 

Twenty years from now, Sergeant Plunkett, and 
your eyes will be closed forever from the sight of the 
Stars and Stripes. But Massachusetts will bring from 
her Capitol, to your body lying near her heart at Wor- 
cester, the remnant of your Old Glory reddened with 
your blood, and lay it gently above you. Nor Death 
nor Time can separate you from the moment of your 
supreme sacrifice. 

New Hampshire. Fredericksburg, December, '62. 
The Fifth New Hampshire Infantry has reached the 
dead-line, beyond which it can advance no farther, a 
rail fence within range of the Confederate rifle-pits. 
On that last stretch of open ground, before the protect- 
ing fence is reached, lie the color and all its bearers. 
Captain James B. Perry starts on the run to save it, 
is struck in the breast and mortally wounded. Dying, 
he whispers, "I know I shall not recover from this 



IMMORTAL COLOR-BEARERS 231 

wound, but I am content if I can see the old flag 
once more." Captain Murray makes an attempt to get 
to the Flag, but is killed, and Captain Moore, follow- 
ing him, also falls dying. A little group of determined 
men rushes out upon that dangerous open. Their bodies 
fall across one another, close to the Flag. Lieutenant 
George Nettleton crawls from behind the fence to the 
color, is struck by a grape-shot and mortally hurt. But 
he gets back to his regiment with their Flag. Captain 
Perry presses the blood-wet folds to his lips, and dies. 
Iowa. Vicksburg, May, '63. The Army of the 
Tennessee is assaulting the Confederate works at Vicks- 
burg. The Flag of the Ninth Iowa Infantry, that 
came so many miles from New England as a tribute 
to the regiment, flutters on through the storm of bullets 
to the very edge of the works, carried by Color-Ser- 
geant Elson. He springs to the crest of the redoubt 
and plants the Stars and Stripes firmly in the ground, 
cheering the regiment on to protect it. A bullet strikes 
him in the thigh and he falls, dragging Old Glory 
with him. Captain George Granger draws the Flag 
from under Elson's bleeding body and hands it to 
Color-Corporal Otis Crawford, who soon falls with it 
in his arms. In swift succession, Color-Corporals" 
Curtis, Moore, Strunk, Gipe, Moulton, Logue and 
Smith, are shot while carrying the beloved color. The 
assault ends in a disastrous repulse. The survivors of 
the regiment find themselves lying in a ditch, behind 
logs, close to and partly under the protection of the 
Confederate earthworks. Captain Granger tears the 
Stars and Stripes from its staff and conceals it be- 
neath his blouse. Under the cover of the night, the 



232 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

Ninth Iowa, torn as badly as its Old Glory, retires in 
safety. 

But other color-bearers of the Ninth Iowa will carry 
their Old Glory through days glorious with victory. In 
their hands it will travel two thousand miles over Con- 
federate soil, toil up the rocky steep of Lookout Moun- 
tain, stream on the brow of Missionary Ridge on a chill 
night after a terrific struggle at Chickamauga, in the 
midst of shivering, tired, hungry soldiers; and at last, 
a mere shred, a ghost of its early beauty, it will pass 
out of service and into immortality. 

Illinois. Chickamauga, September, '63. The Fed- 
eral right at Chickamauga has been ripped to pieces by 
terrific Confederate assaults. Hosts of fugitives with 
artillery, limbers and caissons, are pouring to the rear. 
Thomas and his Corps, on the left, stand like a rock, 
steadfast in the torrent. They have taken the form of 
a huge horseshoe, a band of steel that cannot be bent 
or broken. Distant, at McAffee Church, is General 
Steedman with a division of infantry, three four-gun 
batteries and two squadrons of cavalry. He has been 
ordered to stay there, but, the roar of Thomas' stub- 
born defense coming to him on the air, he decides to 
disregard orders, and go to the field of Chickamauga. 

Thomas, on his horse under a clump of dead trees, 
sees a thick cloud of dust rising from the Lafayette 
road. A column of marching men comes into sight. 
They and their Flags are so covered with dust that 
Thomas cannot distinguish them as friend or foe. A 
color-bearer waves his Flag, high over his head. A 
sprinkle of gray dust floats from it. The Stars and 



IMMORTAL COLOR-BEARERS 233 

Stripes signals to the tight-gripped men of the blue 
horseshoe that help is at hand. 

On the extreme right of the curved line there is 
imminent danger of a collapse under stern pressure. 
There, on a front of seven hundred yards, twelve thou- 
sand rifles exchange volleys. The ground slopes from 
the blue regiments up to those in gray. Steedman re- 
ceives orders from Thomas to charge up that slope 
and break the Confederate grip. He rides to the head 
of the One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois Infantry, 
seizes a Stars and Stripes from its bearer, and shouts, 
"Boys, I'll command you. I'll bear your flag if you'll 
defend it. 'Tention! Forward — double — quick — 
march!" A stream of bullets tears Old Glory into 
shreds, as Steedman, galloping on, holds it above him. 
His horse, struck and plunging forward, hurls rider 
and Flag over his head. Man and color lie tangled on 
the ground. The One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois, 
charging by with a yell, lift Old Glory into its home 
amidst the hurricane of shot, and break, bayonet clash- 
ing against bayonet, into the heart of the Confederate 
line. 

Ohio. Missionary Ridge, November, '63. An eagle 
soars above Chattanooga Valley. Below him on Mis- 
sionary Ridge, are eight thousand gray riflemen and 
fifty cannon. The gothic rim of the crest is a lip of 
flame; rifles and heavy guns all blazing down a slope 
that rises to them five hundred feet on an angle of forty- 
five degrees. Up this steep, on a front well over a 
mile wide, moves a line of blue, infantry of the Army 
of the Cumberland. At intervals the line is pushed 
forward into inverted Vs. There are waving wings at 



234 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLQ GLORY 

fifteen of these points, Stars and Stripes moving up- 
ward irresistibly, borne by their color-guards. These 
Flags have gone through hurricanes of shot at Pea 
Ridge, Shiloh and Stone River, and have been riddled 
at Chickamauga. 

Near the center of Sheridan's upsweeping front, Old 
Glories ripple over men from Ohio. The Ninety-sev- 
enth Ohio Infantry approaches the fire-rimmed crest. A 
color-bearer falls. For a moment the Stars and Stripes 
wavers at the tip of its V, a broken wing faltering. It 
swings up again into its right of leadership. Now the 
great broom of blue grazes the fringe of the summit 
and scatters the ranks in gray who so tenaciously have 
clung to their guns. In the west the sun is but its own 
breadth from the wall of the hills. The golden rays, 
bridging the valley from Chattanooga to the Ridge, fall 
upon and illumine the regiments in blue, the glitter- 
ing bayonets and the waving, triumphant Stars and 
Stripes. The eagle turns, soars to the west and disap- 
pears in the sunset. 

Connecticut. The Wilderness, May, '64. Chaos 
in the Wilderness. Through tangled brush and twist- 
ing branches, a desperate battle is raging. The Four- 
teenth Connecticut Infantry, on the left of the Federal 
line, is engaged in driving back the enemy's outposts. 
So great is the din that orders cannot be heard. The 
adjutant, seeking for a means of rallying the men, 
touches a color-bearer on the shoulder, points to a 
fallen tree, and shouts to him to kneel by it, holding 
the Flag over him. Around the two, Stars and Stripes 
and boy, gather officers and men of the Fourteenth 
and other regiments. With this vivid point of loyalty 



IMMORTAL COLOR-BEARERS 235 

as a base, the line is extended as skirmishers. Color- 
Corporal Charles W. Norton, standing by the Flag, 
is severely wounded. 

In the afternoon Longstreet throws his fresh Corps 
against the Union line, into a battle-ground thick with 
a pall of smoke and ablaze with burning trees and 
grass. The Wilderness becomes an inferno. The 
Fourteenth Connecticut is wellnigh surrounded. Color- 
Corporal Henry K. Lyon, standing in an exposed po- 
sition, staggers and sinks to the ground. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Moore, at his side, takes Old Glory from his 
hands. "Take it, Colonel ! I have done my best," says 
Lyon, and dies. Moore gives the Stars and Stripes 
to Color-Sergeant John Hirst, and with him it goes 
through the rest of the awful fight, to find quiet only 
as the stars come out above it and the Wilderness hears 
the whip-poor-wills calling mournfully in the tangled 
depths, above the living and the dead, the Blue and 
the Gray. * 

New York. Peach Tree Creek, July, '64. The 
One Hundred and Forty-ninth New York Infantry is 
in a field thick with undergrowth and trailing vines. 
Its brigade, in reserve in a column of regiments, is 
ordered forward, each regiment advancing as it be- 
comes deployed. As each regiment comes into close 
range, it is at once a focus of converging fire. The 
One Hundred and Forty-ninth traverses a ravine filled 
with the hum of bullets and, with its colors ahead, 
enters a maze of tangled brush clouded by a swirl of 
smoke stabbed by spurts of flame. Six of the bearers 
of the Stars and Stripes are lying in the ragged grass. 
Color-Sergeant W. H. H. Crosier stands, a solitary 



236 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

figure, outlined with his Flag against the drifting 
smoke. Out of this smoke rushes a knot of men in 
gray. They leap upon Crosier. "Take my Flag, if 
you can!" he yells. The staff is grasped. He rips 
Old Glory from its lance, tucks it under his blouse 
over his heart. Then, with a dive, he breaks through 
the gray circle around him and runs toward his regi- 
ment. A bullet strikes him, but he goes on. Stained 
with blood, he emerges from the thicket, and is con- 
fronted by his Colonel, who demands, "Where is that 
Flag?" Crosier unbuttons his blouse, pulls out Old 
Glory, says faintly, "Here it is, Colonel," and sinks 
to the ground. 

General H. A. Barnum will recommend Color-Ser- 
geant Crosier for the Congressional Medal of Honor. 
In the letter which he will write he will say, "Crosier' s 
act was one of superb bravery in action and of devotion 
to the flag, in which he held life as nothing to the sav- 
ing of the starry banner." 

Vermont. Cedar Creek, October, '64. Break of 
day. With the speed of a whirlwind, Jubal Early 
strikes a section of the Army of the Potomac, deter- 
mined on breaking its grip on the Army of Northern 
Virginia. The Eighth Vermont Infantry, a part of 
General Stephen Thomas' Brigade, a mere handful of 
men, is thrown in to stem the torrent. General Crook's 
Corps, to the left, has been surprised, smashed and 
swept away. Under Major Meade, the Green Moun- 
tain Boys hold a terribly exposed position, for the 
enemy, with deafening yells, moves swiftly in from 
front and flank. Regiment after regiment of the 
Eighth Corps crumbles and goes by to the rear. Two 



IMMORTAL COLOR-BEARERS 237 

companion regiments, the Twelfth Connecticut and the 
One Hundred and Sixtieth New York, frightfully 
broken, cling to their ground, but with ever widening 
rifts between as the Confederate swarm breaks upon 
them in fury. 

Suddenly a mass of men in gray confronts the twin 
Flags of the Eighth Vermont, demanding their sur- 
render. "Never! Never !" is the reply of the men in 
blue, forming a compact ring of defense around their 
colors. Instantly begins one of the Civil War's most 
desperate and ugly hand-to-hand struggles for flags. 
Men become demons, fight with fists, clubbed muskets 
and bayonets. Color-Corporal Petre, shot in the thigh, 
pitches forward to the ground. "Boys, leave me ! Take 
care of yourselves and the flag!" he cries. As he 
crawls away to die, Corporal Perham seizes Old Glory 
and raises it aloft. A soldier in gray reaches to grip 
the staff, but Color-Sergeant Shores places the muzzle 
of his musket against his breast and fires, killing him 
instantly. A flash from another musket, and Perham 
falls, dragging the Stars and Stripes to the earth with 
him. Again, in a din of yells, the Flag goes up, held 
stoutly by Color-Corporal Blanchard. 

Color-Sergeants Shores and Simpson, now standing 
by the colors, become the center of a terrific man-to- 
man fight. Three Confederates attack them at once 
and attempt to take Old Glory. Simpson fires at one, 
and Shores bayonets another. Down the line bursts 
forth wild cheering. Sheridan has come from Win- 
chester, miles away, and the tide of battle, that has 
been ebbing so swiftly for the Army of the Potomac, 
turns into a flood of victory. At the heart of the Eighth 



238 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

Vermont stands a little group of stunned and bleeding 
boys, the faithful, heroic color-guard. Salute Ser- 
geants Moran, Shores and Holt, and Corporal Worden, 
who are willing to die, but not to yield the Stars and 
Stripes. 

New Jersey. Fort Mahone, April, '65. A New 
Jersey boy, James Jarvis, of the State's Thirty-ninth 
Infantry, gives a superb picture of heroism under Old 
Glory. It is the early dawn of April 2, '65. The regi- 
ment is moving forward, under a pitiless fire, to the 
assault on Fort Mahone. Jarvis runs ahead, scales 
the earthwork and, mounting the parapet, plants the 
Flag squarely in the face of the enemy. Immediately 
he is the target for a hail of bullets. Forty-three balls 
pierce his Old Glory, and one slices his right arm. But 
he stands, refusing to yield an inch, clinging to his 
Flag, until he sees his regiment beaten back by the un- 
yielding fire. With one last defiant glance at the mus* 
kets leveled at him, he leaps from the crest of the 
parapet and brings off the Stars and Stripes, tattered 
but glorious. 

Maryland. Five Forks, April, '65. The war is 
at the eve of Appomattox. Fighting doggedly, the 
worn and battered Army of Northern Virginia is re- 
vealing, in its final hours, the splendid temper of its 
steel. Pushed back, struck repeatedly by an army of its 
own tough fiber, it is standing with its back to the wall, 
dangerous in its extremity. Sheridan, moving with 
dazzling rapidity, is opening his brilliant battle at 
Five Forks. In the Fourth Maryland Infantry, as it 
goes into action, is a boy color-bearer, Corporal Jacob 
R. Turner, and the day is his twentieth birthday. Over 



IMMORTAL COLOR-BEARERS 239 

his head as he advances, flutters a standard nearing the 
close of its first century in history, about to witness 
the last event of the greatest canto of its long epic. 
Corporal Tucker sees no Appomattox ahead of him as 
he runs. The brown line of a Confederate entrench- 
ment is before him, blazing with flame and crested with 
smoke. Can he plant the Stars and Stripes on that 
line? He outstrips his comrades of the Fourth Mary- 
land, reaches the brown slope, scales it and stands, 
silhouetted against the murky cloud, waving Old Glory 
above the Confederate flag. With a cheer the Fourth 
Maryland billows up to and around him, clears the 
barricade and leaps to cross bayonets with men in 
gray. 

Within four months, Corporal Tucker, you will re- 
ceive from General Grant, a letter of praise, commend- 
ing your "gallantry and heroism in battle/' as one his- 
torian says, "the only letter of the kind ever sent by 
a commanding general to a private soldier during the 



XXXIX 

The Flag Comes Home 

"Imagine what it was like to see a bullet-shredded old battle- 
flag reverently unfolded to the gaze of a thousand middle- 
aged soldiers, most of whom hadn't seen it since they saw it 
advancing over victorious fields when they were in their prime. 
And imagine what it was like when Grant stepped into view 
while they were still going mad over the flag; and then right 
in the midst of it all somebody struck up 'When we were 
marching through Georgia.' Well, you should have heard 
the thousand voices lift that chorus and seen the tears stream 
down. If I live a hundred years, I shan't ever forget these 
things, nor be able to talk about them." — Mark Twain, in let- 
ter to Howells, November, 1879. 

THE men who came North from Appomattox in 
1865, brought with them the memory of an un- 
usually dramatic scene. We have been strict, in this 
history, in our adherence to the story of the Stars and 
Stripes. We have closed the door on such flags as 
have come into life on the soil of the United States, 
hostile to our Flag and its meaning as the perfect sym- 
bol of federated States bound in an indissoluble Union. 
But there was an hour at the very close of the Civil 
War, so pathetic, so interpretative of the splendid 
armies that fought for the Confederacy, that we open 
the door and give a swift view of the last moments at 
Appomattox. 

Brigadier-General Joshua L. Chamberlain was del- 

240 



THE FLAG COMES HOME 241 

egated by Grant to receive the surrender of Lee's Army. 
A detachment of that Army, led by Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral John B. Gordon, came marching with their arms 
to the place designated for the formal act of surrender. 
Chamberlain, a soldier and a man, thrilled with a noble 
pity, gave a sharp command, and the Union muskets 
came to an attitude of salute. Gordon reined his 
horse, turned in his saddle, drew his sword, and, with a 
magnificent sweep, acknowledged the salute and its 
significance. As the torn and ghostly banners of the 
South went by, the Stars and Stripes dipped in a com- 
radeship of heroism not wholly without reverence; not 
for the flag that had gone down in defeat, but for the 
men, Americans, who had fought under it. 

Then, with a painful reluctance, the flags of the 
Lost Cause were leaned against the stacks of muskets 
or laid gently on the ground. The hour of parting had 
come, and, regardless of discipline, the gray ranks 
broke and the men rushed to their flags, folded them 
in their arms, pressed them to their lips and wept over 
them. 

From the front of four bitter years, Old Glory came 
home. There is a literature in itself on the return of 
the Northern battle-flags. One paragraph, written at 
the time, presents a picture more graphic than any we 
can give : — "The multitude raised a shout and cheered, 
but the impulse was but momentary, for at the sight 
of the array of tattered rags the noise of the tumult 
died away, and a half-suppressed sound was heard as 
through the hearts of the people there flashed a thrill 
of mingled pride and pain. Those who saw it will 
never forget the scene. In the center the tattered silk 



242 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

of the colors, and on the fringe and in the background 
a wonder-stricken crowd, as past uncovered heads, past 
dimmed eyes and quivering lips, the old flags were car- 
ried." 

We turn to a page of Connecticut's history for our 
final view of the Old Glory of the Civil War. The 
ceremony of returning the battle-flags of the State was 
held at Hartford. It was decided to gather the regi- 
mental standards, repair those that could be repaired, 
and deposit them in the State Capitol for preservation 
and as a memorial of a great period in the history of 
the Nation and of the State. Other Northern States 
were carrying out similar ceremonies, and Connecticut's 
battle-flag day did not differ in essentials from the 
routine followed throughout the North. But there 
were two or three incidents in the Hartford episode 
of a peculiarly tender significance. 

A committee of women and girls was appointed to 
take the Flags into their hands for the delicate work 
of repairing them in such a way that they should re- 
tain their torn and bullet-pierced appearance and yet 
be fortified for the decades to come. One girl was 
given, for her handiwork, the Flag under which her 
brother had died in action. A young woman took the 
last stitches in a Stars and Stripes which, during the 
war, had more than once been returned to her for re- 
pair, from the regiment in which her husband was an 
officer. 

On the day of the Flag-ceremony, veterans came to 
Hartford from all quarters of the State. Burnside was 
there on the platform, and with him was General 
Joseph R. Hawley, Connecticut's own soldier. During 



THE FLAG COMES HOME 243 

one of the addresses, as the rent Old Glories were 
brought in, one by one, a Flag was seen approaching 
with its old color-guard beneath it. Between two com- 
rades, one at each arm, limped a crippled man who, 
a boy, had carried that Flag into the center of battle 
and fallen under its folds. His eyes, filled with tears, 
were lifted to the Stars and Stripes as he stumbled on. 

"Those relics, tattered as they are and intrinsically worth- 
less, possess a sacred value in the eyes of the soldier and the 
patriot, second only to the national honor itself." — Benj. R. 
Cowen, Adj. General, Ohio, December, 1864. 

"There's a strange love for the old flag burning in our hearts. 
It is inconceivable, indescribable, absolutely unknown to one 
never in battle or active service. . . . Our wild battle-cry will 
be heard no more forever. Our battle-flag will come forth 
no more to war. Our flag is furled." — George N. Carpenter, 
Historian, Eighth Vermont Infantry. 



XL 



The Stars and Stripes Goes to the Heart of 

Africa 

BY a curious freak of circumstances, Africa, that 
had been an indirect cause of the Civil War, 
called to America in 1869 for aid in finding the lost 
David Livingstone, the great Scotch missionary who 
had gone with the Cross from one end of the dark 
continent to the other. The call found its answer in 
an ex-Confederate soldier, Henry M. Stanley, then in 
Spain as a newspaper correspondent. James Gordon 
Bennett, Jr., who financed the search, gave his orders 
to Stanley in one brief but adequate sentence : "Find 
Livingstone and bring news of his discoveries or proofs 
of his death, regardless of expense." 

On January 10, 1871, Stanley, under the Stars and 
Stripes, landed at Zanzibar to plunge into a wild and 
practically unknown country in search of a missionary 
Lost while serving under the Union Jack. He enlisted 
twenty-seven native soldiers, one hundred and fifty- 
seven carriers, and, with two white men, struck inland 
on March 21, 1871. For nearly eight months the little 
caravan toiled on, through thorns and jungles, across 
rivers and swamps many miles in length. Men de- 
serted, and the oft-recurring fever delayed and les- 
sened by death, Stanley's train of followers. For hun- 

244 



STARS AND STRIPES IN AFRICA 245 

dreds of leagues . . . once traveling five hundred and 
twenty miles to cross an air-distance of one hundred 
and twenty miles . . . the search-party literally hewed 
a road into Africa. At length came rumors, picked up 
from the natives, that a white man had recently arrived 
at Ujiji from Manyuema. 

This golden piece of information spurred Stanley 
on with greater speed. On November 9, 1871, he 
looked down on the splendid expanse of Lake Tan- 
ganyika. What occurred on the following day is best 
told by Stanley himself: — "At this grand moment we 
do not think of the hundreds of miles we have marched, 
of the hundreds of hills we have ascended and de- 
scended, of the many forests we have traversed, of the 
jungles and thickets that annoyed us, of the fervid 
salt plains that blistered our feet. Our dreams, our 
hopes, our anticipations are about to be realized. 

" 'Unfurl the flags and load the guns !' 

" 'Ay, Wallah, ay, Wallah, bana,' responded the 
men eagerly. 

"A volley from nearly fifty guns roars like a salute 
from a battery of artillery. 

" 'Now, Kirangazi, hold the white man's flag up 
high, and let the Zanzibar flag bring up the rear. And 
you men keep close together, and keep firing until we 
halt in the market-place, or before the white man's 
house.' 

"Before we had gone one hundred yards our re- 
peated volleys had the desired effect. The mere sight 
of the flags informed every one that we were a caravan, 
but the American flag, borne aloft by the gigantic 
Asmani, whose face was one broad smile on this day, 



246 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

rather staggered them at first. However, many of the 
people who now approached us remembered the flag. 
They had seen it float above the American consulate, 
and from the mastheads of many a ship in the harbor 
of Zanzibar, and they were soon heard welcoming the 
beautiful flag with cries of 'Bindera Kisungu!' . . * 
a white man's flag. 'Bindera Mericani!' . . . the 
American flag." 

Through an avenue of Africans went Stanley, with 
Old Glory at his side. At the end of the avenue stood 
a white man with a gray beard, before a semi-circle 
of Arabs. Stanley walked up to him, took off his hat 
and said, very simply, 

"Dr. Livingstone, I presume." 

"Yes," replied Livingstone with a gentle smile, lift- 
ing his hat slightly. 

And so, in Central Africa, the Stars and Stripes, 
piloted by an ex-Confederate soldier and carried by a 
black African, found the Union Jack and its Christian 
representative, David Livingstone. 



XLI 

Old Glory at Samoa 

ON the 15th and 16th of March, 1889, a terrific 
gale swept over Apia, Samoa, driving ashore 
every vessel in the harbor except the British ship Cal- 
liope. Three nations were represented by men-of-war 
in the general fleet anchored at Apia in that month; 
Germany by the Adler, the Eber and the Olga; Eng- 
land by the Calliope; and the United States by the 
Trenton, the Vandalia and the Nipsic. When the 
storm abated, the Nipsic and the Olga were held 
gripped by the sand on the beach, and the Trenton, the 
Vandalia, the Adler and the Eber, were wrecks. The 
Calliope alone, with the aid of her powerful engines, 
had fought her way out to sea and to safety. From 
the chaos of that hurricane emerges one of the most 
powerful scenes in the Flag's long drama. 

The three ships that figure in our rendering of the 
critical moments of the hurricane, are the Calliope, 
the Vandalia and the Trenton. At about ten o'clock 
on the morning of the 16th, the last named of the 
three was seen from the shore to be helpless. Titan 
waves were breaking over her, lifting her stern clear of 
the sea. Her rudder and propeller had been wrenched 
away by the twisting grip of the waters. The Vandalia 
and the Calliope were coming together rapidly. A 

247 



248 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

collision could not be averted. The iron prow of the 
British ship rose high in the air and fell with a crash 
on the port quarter of the Vandalia. Every man on 
the American ship near the point of collision was hurled 
from his feet. 

Then came an heroic moment. Captain Kane, of 
the Calliope, swung her round into the wind and gave 
orders to work the engines to the limit. It was the 
one last desperate chance for life. One break in the 
machinery, and Death was at hand for three hundred 
men. Slowly the British ship struggled on, inch by 
inch, through a weltering riot of waters, passing be- 
tween the Trenton and the reef. The Trenton's fire 
had gone out, and she lay, tossing and rolling, almost 
in the path of the Calliope, At close quarters with 
Eternity, the American seamen, as the straining Brit- 
isher toiled by them, sent over the white spume a ring- 
ing cheer, the Stars and Stripes greeting the Union 
Jack, "Three cheers for the Calliope I" Captain Kane 
said, later, "God bless America and her noble sailors." 

By three P.M., the Vandalia, a complete wreck, was 
giving up men to the hungry sea. The sailors that 
were left were clinging in, or were lashed to, the rig- 
ging. The officers of the Trenton, believing they, too, 
were doomed, flung out the Stars and Stripes, the first 
flag to appear in the storm on any ship, determined 
to go down with Old Glory streaming above them. 
Caught by the tide and the wind, they were slowly 
drifting down on the Vandalia. It was then after 
seven o'clock, and daylight was beginning to fade. 
Soon the last light paled away, and night came on. 
To the men on the Vandalia, with arms and legs cut 



OLD GLORY AT SAMOA 249 

by ropes, came through sheets of blinding spray the 
apparition of the towering Trenton moving down upon 
them through the darkness. Across the surges, trav- 
eling on the wind, rang a great shout, American call- 
ing to American, the Trenton cheering the Vandalia, 
"Three cheers for the Vandalia!" 

From the shivering masts of the stricken Vandalia 
breathed a response like a whisper. Then, from the 
deck of the Trenton, in the mood of the Roman, "We 
who are about to die, salute you," rolled forth from 
the ship's band "The Star-Spangled Banner." The 
crashing chords conquered the tempest. Before each 
man rose the vision of Old Glory defiant in the face 
of Death, the ever-young, immortal Flag of the great 
Republic. 

Who knows? Some power beyond mortal divina- 
tion intervened as the last trumpet-notes died away 
in the gale. The Trenton reached the Vandalia, but 
there was no shock. The two, side by side under the 
Stars and Stripes, formed a barrier against the sea. 

A correspondent of the Associated Press who wit- 
nessed the wreck of the Vandalia and the Trenton, 
wrote these words near the close of his report: "Above 
the whole scene of destruction the Stars and Stripes 
and the flag of Rear-Admiral Kimberly floated from 
the shattered masts of the Trenton, as if to indicate 
that America was triumphant even above the storm." 



XLII 

The Flag in the War with Spain 

THE Spanish War of 1898 was almost barren of 
scenes in which the Stars and Stripes had an indi- 
vidual part. When the Maine was blown up at Ha- 
vana, in February of that year, the Flag was hoisted 
over the wreck, and was kept there at half-mast for 
days. Our ships, in and out of action, furnished no 
moments when Old Glory was an outstanding feature. 
The long run of the Oregon from the Pacific to the 
Atlantic: the battles of Manila and Santiago; the 
sinking of the Merrimac; not one of these stirring 
events revealed the Flag in a dramatic prominence. 

The records of our land forces in the Spanish War 
surrender, under search, two stories that are of a na- 
ture that admits them to this book. One, that of the 
Stars and Stripes of the Rough Riders, is a genuine, 
first-class Flag story, possessing the desired elements 
of inception, development and stirring finish. The 
other, that of the National ensign of the Sixteenth 
Regulars, is but a flash-light incident in prose. 

The Rough Riders, composed of men from the 
Southwest, cow-boys and college men from the East, 
assembled in Arizona. The command was an inter- 
esting one, having in its personnel men with family 
traditions of other wars under the Flag — Bucky 

250 



THE WAR WITH SPAIN 251 

O'Neill's father had stormed Marye's heights in '62 
with Meagher — and also serving, in a remarkable de- 
gree, as a forerunner of certain divisions in the late 
war in France, that were composed of men from many 
States. 

When the squadron was about to leave for Cuba, 
it was found that it had no Stars and Stripes. Now 
note how beautifully this little story that follows 
echoes the stories of the battle-flags of '61. The women 
of the Women's Relief Corps of Phoenix, Arizona, 
promptly volunteered to make an Old Glory. They 
sat up all night at their work and sewed together "a 
beautiful silk standard" with their own fingers and 
needles. Unconsciously, those women were in a long 
delayed antiphone to old Fort Stanwix of 1777. It 
was said there was "much difficulty in finding the 
material of which to make it." The same rumor tells 
of "a blue gown, which may or may not have been 
used as the field for the stars." 

When the Flag was finished, the Governor of Ari- 
zona presented it to the Rough Riders, handing it to 
Captain James M. McClintock. A chorus of girls from 
the Territorial Normal School sang "God Be With 
You Till We Meet Again," and, as Edward Marshall, 
war-correspondent, adds, the band of the Rough Rid- 
ers undoubtedly responded with "A Hot Time." 

As the Rough Riders went through the South to 
Tampa, they received ovations all along their route. 
Theodore Roosevelt's account of this portion of their 
Flag's story is so vivid that we repeat it here, espe- 
cially as Roosevelt was himself the spirit of Old Glory 
incarnate. He says: "Everywhere the people came 



252 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

out to greet and to cheer us. We were traveling 
through a region where practically all the old men 
had served in the Confederate Army, and where the 
younger men had all their lives long drunk in the end- 
less tales told by their elders, at home, and at the 
cross-roads taverns, and in the court-house squares, 
about the cavalry of Forrest and Morgan and the in- 
fantry of Jackson and Hood. Everywhere we saw 
the Stars and Stripes and everywhere we were told, 
half-laughing, by grizzled ex-Confederates, that they 
had never dreamed in the bygone days of bitterness, to 
greet the old flag as they now were greeting it, and to 
send their sons, as they now were sending them, to 
fight and die under it." 

The Rough Riders were the first volunteer regi- 
ment organized, armed and equipped, in the Spanish 
War. They were the first volunteer soldiers in Cuba. 
They raised the first Stars and Stripes hoisted by the 
military forces of the United States over foreign soil 
since the Mexican War. The raising of their Old 
Glory on the crest of Loriltires is an incident not to 
be overlooked. Surgeon La Motte, Color-Sergeant 
Wright, Trumpeter Piatt, and Edward Marshall, 
climbed the hill with the Flag, found a deserted block- 
house, and prepared to fling out Old Glory above it. 
But the block-house had a slippery tin roof, and the 
little party was on the verge of despair when an Amer- 
ican sailor opportunely appeared. He scrambled up 
the tin slope, carrying the Stars and Stripes of the girls 
of Arizona with him, and lashed it, by its own staff, 
to the little timber that stuck from the peak. 

Down on the bay lay the United States transports. 



THE WAR WITH SPAIN 253 

Their sailors looked like toy men to the group on the 
hill. Suddenly some one on one of the ships caught 
sight of Old Glory fluttering over Cuba. And then, 
as we are told and can readily imagine, there was bed- 
lam. Steam-whistles tooted, twenty thousand men 
yelled and cheered, twelve bands began to play with 
all their strength, and guns of warships banged away 
in fervid patriotism. 

This Flag of the Rough Riders was carried gallantly 
through all the engagements in Cuba. At Las Guasi- 
mas, Color-Sergeant Wright was grazed three times on 
the neck by bullets, while carrying it, and four holes 
were shot through the silk of its folds. 

At San Juan Hill, the Stars and Stripes of the Six- 
teenth Regulars, Infantry, was the first United States 
Flag to reach the crest and the Spanish lines. Stephen 
Bonsai wrote of this color as follows: "The leader 
of the thin and scattered line, the forlorn hope that 
persisted in advancing, was Lieut. Ord. There raced 
with him, running neck and neck the gauntlet of death, 
a color-bearer of the Sixteenth Infantry, carrying his 
great flag unfurled to the breeze ; a private of the Sixth 
Infantry; and a little flute-player of the Sixth, a boy 
of sixteen. The young private of the Sixth, from Ohio, 
the first in the rush-line, fell twenty yards short of the 
crest/' 



XLIII 

Old Glory at the Top of the World 

THE North Pole, that for years bad defied the at- 
tacks of men, especially of Englishmen and 
Americans, yielded to the assault of Commander Robert 
E. Peary of the United States Navy, in 1909. By suc- 
cessive stages, in 1900, 1902 and 1906, Peary had 
pushed beyond Greely's farthest of 83 ° 24' north, by 
distances of 30 miles, 23 miles and 169 miles. There 
remained a strip of 174 miles to cover, in order to 
span the whole line of 396 miles that had resisted the 
foot of any other conqueror. Of Peary's tremendous 
struggle with the barrier of the North, we have no 
room to tell in this history. We are greatly interested 
in the Stars and Stripes which he carried with him. 

This particular Old Glory, which had been made 
for Peary by his wife in 1894, was of silk and went 
with him in all his voyages to the North. On April 6, 
1909, with five companions, four Esquimaux and the 
negro Henson, Peary stood on the top of the world. 
The great quest was ended. The North was no longer 
a mystery and a defiance. The Old Glory that had 
covered so many weary miles in high latitudes, that 
Peary had carried wrapped about his body on every 
one of his expeditions northward, was unfurled and 
planted to stream in the cold Arctic air. Peary had 

254 



OLD GLORY AT TOP OF WORLD 255 

left fragments of this Flag at each of his successive 
"farthest norths;" Cape Morris K. Jesup, the northern- 
most point of land in the known world; Cape Thomas 
Hubbard, the northernmost known point of Jesup 
Land, west of Grant Land ; Cape Columbia, the north- 
ernmost point of North American lands; and his farth- 
est north in 1906, latitude 87 ° 6' in the ice of the 
Polar Sea. So it was a worn, discolored and patched 
Old Glory, typical of the long and severe struggle of 
the man who carried it, that marked the victory of the 
United States over all nations in a contest of brawn 
and mind. 

Peary's record, deposited at the Pole, "between the 
ice blocks of a pressure ridge," in a glass bottle con- 
taining a diagonal strip of Old Glory, read as fol- 
lows : — 

90 N. Lat. North Pole. 
April 6, 1909. 
I have to-day hoisted the national ensign of the United 
States of America at this place, which my observations indicate 
to be the North Polar axis of the earth, and have formally 
taken possession of the entire region, and adjacent, for and in 
the name of the President of the United States of America. 
I leave this record and United States flag in possession. 
Robert E. Peary, 

United States Navy. 



XLIV 

Territorial Acquisitions Under the Flag 

BEFORE entering upon the part taken by the 
Stars and Stripes in the late war in Europe, it 
will be well to list the territorial additions to the 
United States during the years since the Civil War. 
This record applies only to such lands as were, pre- 
vious to their dates of acquisition, under other na- 
tional flags. 

Alaska was purchased from Russia through a Treaty 
which was signed on March 30, 1867. Russia relin- 
quished, by this Treaty, all claim to the continent of 
Alaska and the adjacent islands. The transfer took 
place at Sitka, October 18, 1867. The Flag used at 
the time was forwarded to Washington, where it is 
now preserved. 

On June 21, 1898, the cruiser Charleston, Captain 
Henry Glass, entered the harbor of San Luis d'Apra, 
Island of Guam, and took possession. The Spanish 
flag was lowered, and the Stars and Stripes was raised 
at about two o'clock that afternoon. 

A fleet of United States vessels sailed from Guan- 
tanamo, Porto Rico, on July 21, 1898, and reached 
Guanica, Porto Rico, on the 25th. The Spanish with- 
drew without resistance. At the eastern end of the 
beach was a worn and faded Spanish flag, typical of 

256 



ACQUISITIONS UNDER FLAG 257 

the waning control of Spain. This flag was lowered, 
and Old Glory was raised. At noon of October 18, 
the Stars and Stripes was hoisted at San Juan, and 
Porto Rico came completely into the hands of the 
United States. 

During the Spanish- American War, the Hawaiian 
Islands were gathered under the folds of Old Glory. 
The formal annexation occurred at Honolulu on Au- 
gust 12, 1898. At 1 1.30 of that day, at the Executive 
Building, the Hawaiian flag slowly fluttered down 
from the flagstaff on the central tower of the building, 
and Old Glory went up to take its place. 

On August 13, 1898, the city of Manila surrendered 
to Rear-Admiral George Dewey and Major-General 
Wesley Merritt. The Spanish flag was hauled down 
and the Stars and Stripes was hoisted. This act was 
a sign of the taking over of the Philippines by the 
United States. 

On July 4, 1898, a group of officers of the second 
Philippine expedition landed on Wake Island and, a 
very proper celebration of the day, raised the Stars and 
Stripes over land many miles from any other Pacific 
shore. On January 17, 1899, Commander E. D. Taus- 
sig, United States Navy, in the ship Bennington, took 
formal possession of Wake Island. 

Spain, in signing the Treaty of Peace on December 
10, 1898, relinquished all claims to Cuba. At Havana, 
on July 1, 1899, tne act °f transfer occurred. At 
noon, the day was a Sunday, the Spanish standard 
that had for centuries flown above the Island, was 
lowered, and the Stars and Stripes was sent to the top 
of the staff. The fleet present, and the fortress, fired 



258 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

salutes before and after the change of flags. The cere- 
mony of transfer was free of ostentation, consisting 
merely of brief speeches by Captain-General Castel- 
lanos and Major-General John R. Brooke. On May 
20, 1902, Cuba became an independent Republic. 

Tutuila, Manua, and three lesser islands of the 
Samoan group came under the shadow of Old Glory 
through a Treaty signed November 14, 1899, between 
Great Britain and Germany, in the terms of which the 
United States acquiesced. Formal possession was 
taken at Pago Pago, on April 12, 1900. 

Two islands, Caguyan-Sulu and Sibutu, of the Sulu 
Archipelago, which caused much discussion between 
Spain and the United States in the settling of the 
questions brought forward by the results of the Span- 
ish-American War, became the property of the United 
States, on November 7, 1900, by a payment of $100,- 
000 to Spain. 

In March, 1917, by purchase from Denmark, the 
Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix, 
became the eastern wardens of the United States for 
the Caribbean Sea. On March 27 of that year, Sec- 
retary of the Navy Daniels radioed Captain Pollock 
of the transport Hancock to go to St. Thomas and 
take over the Islands in the name of the President of 
the United States. Pollock dropped anchor in the 
harbor of St. Thomas at 5.30 on the afternoon of that 
day. 

At dawn of the next day the old Olympia, of Dew- 
ey's white fleet, appeared, like a ghost, off the harbor. 
She transferred her band to the Hancock, took on board 
sixty of Captain Pollock's seventy-eight marines, and 



ACQUISITIONS UNDER FLAG 259 

slipped over to St. Croix. Pollock proceeded at once 
to carry out Daniels' orders. As the evening began 
to deepen, the crimson Danneborg which had fluttered 
above the old town for years, came rippling slowly 
down, and a hush fell on the crowd. The Danish 
band played the Danish national anthem for the last 
time in the West Indies, and then marched away to 
the landing-stage, with Kaptan Konow, the late Gov- 
ernor, and his marines, behind them. An eye-witness 
said, and we believe him, "For a great many people 
this part of the picture was rather blurred." 

Across the parade came the petty officers of the 
Hancock, each with a folded Stars and Stripes under 
an arm. They were tall and slim and brown, and 
they went like men with a purpose, straight to their 
posts. When their three Old Glories went up into 
the air — one on the fort, one on the barracks, and the 
largest on the main flagstaff in the saluting battery — 
the Islands were of Old Glory's domain. 

This chapter opened in Alaska and closes in the 
West Indies. As one result of those two additions 
of territory, the sun never sets on the Stars and Stripes. 
As his last rays of daylight glimmer on Old Glory at 
the western capes of Alaska, his glow of dawn gleams 
on the Red, White and Blue at the eastern gates of 
the Carib Sea. 



XLV 

The Stars and Stripes and the World War 

AT Halifax, Nova Scotia, in December, 1917, 
there was a display of the American Flag that 
was in itself a sign of the part the United States was 
to take in the War in Europe. Halifax was suffering 
from the devastation caused by an explosion on a ship 
in her harbor. Boston, the nearest of the large cities 
of the United States, immediately equipped a Red 
Cross unit and dispatched it by train to the stricken 
city. The resident American consul donated a large 
Old Glory, and it was raised over the entrance to St. 
Mary's Hospital. A newspaper correspondent wrote, 
under the date of December 12, "The Greater Boston 
Red Cross unit paused in its work of mercy to-day to 
stand knee-deep in Canadian snows and sing The 
Star-Spangled Banner/ as for the first time in history 
Old Glory was flung, with formal ceremonies, to the 
Canadian skies." 

There was an unusual coincidence in this display 
at Halifax ; for there, one hundred and four years be- 
fore, the Stars and Stripes came slowly into the har- 
bor draped over the dead Lawrence lying on the deck 
of the Chesapeake. Halifax, as we remember, re- 
ceived the Stars and Stripes and its heroic defender, 
in 1813, with ceremonial honor. She sent the body of 

260 



THE WORLD WAR 261 

Lawrence back to Boston with words of chivalrous 
tribute. It was eminently fitting that the New Eng- 
land city should be the one, in 1917, first to arrive on 
Nova Scotian soil, under Old Glory, bringing a mis- 
sion of practical aid. 

This act of mercy at Halifax, carried out beneath 
the Stars and Stripes, was a true index of the eminent 
part the United States was to assume in crushing the 
weaponed tool of autocracy, the German army, For 
our entrance into the great struggle was inspired partly 
by a humanitarian desire to aid oppressed nations. 
We are to see, as we read the last pages of this history, 
that Old Glory was more a symbol of beneficence than 
an oriflamme of battle, in its appearance in France in 
1917. The old days when the Stars and Stripes went 
into the swirl at the core of the whirlpool of conflict 
are gone, seemingly forever. It will be a surprise to 
many readers to learn that the European war yields 
few if any flags torn and pierced by bullets and shells. 
A French writer, Captain Capart, in his book of remi- 
niscences written late in the war, said, through the 
mouth of a poilu, "Back of the lines I am a color-bearer. 
Here, I am just like the others." Flags were displayed 
in France, near the battlefields, but seldom, probably 
never, upon them. 

It gives us a running commentary on the attitude of 
this country toward the European conflict, to follow 
and clip references to Old Glory in the daily press 
of the United States of the years from 1915 to 1919. 
The year 1914 revealed practically nothing. In 1915 
appeared a number of brief allusions to the Stars and 
Stripes, principally in the form of advice as to proper 



262 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

methods of display. In June of that year the New 
York Times paid its respects to Flag-Day with two 
articles, from which we quote. Under the caption, 
"Topics of the Times," June 12, appeared these words, 
"There are days when flags mean, or should mean a 
good deal to everybody, to civilians as well as soldiers. 
It is not for nothing that always there has been in 
most hearts a capacity to thrill at the sight of specially 
ordered bits of cloth." That was a decorous and de- 
mure statement of loyalty to Old Glory. It sounds 
thin when compared with the passionate utterances of 
1861. On June 14, Flag-Day, under the heading "Na- 
tion to Honor the Flag To-day," we were told that in 
New York City Secretary Franklin K. Lane's eulogy 
of the Stars and Stripes would be read in all the public 
schools. Secretary Lane's words deserved to be read. 
We give these selections from his eloquent personifica- 
tion of Old Glory; the Flag is speaking, "I am song 
and fear, struggle and panic, and ennobling hope. . . . 
I am the mystery of the men who do without knowing 
why. ... I am the clutch of an idea and the reasoned 
purpose of resolution." 

It remained in that summer of 1915, for an ex- 
Confederate soldier, Will Henry Thompson, speaking 
in a city on the Pacific coast, to renew the old blaze 
of fiery patriotism that leaped into flame during the 
opening weeks of the Civil War. Thompson, a Geor- 
gian, was at sixteen years of age a soldier in the Army 
of Northern Virginia. After Appomattox he set out 
to tramp home with other boys in gray. While on their 
desolate march, the little group "sat down in dust 
and ashes and divided a small square of bunting which 



THE WORLD WAR 263 

one of them had hidden in his bosom." That torn 
fragment was a piece of a Stars and Bars of Lee's 
Army. No wonder the Times spoke editorially, in re- 
ferring to Thompson's address, of "the meaning of a 
flag, the unaccountable love men have for it. The 
love of a flag is as little to be analyzed as the love for 
a mother." 

Thompson's main theme was "The Shadow of a 
Flag," and he had set down a part of his thoughts in 
verse. We give his story in prose. During the strug- 
gle at the "Bloody Angle" a Stars and Stripes was 
planted on the frail log breast-work that Thompson 
and his comrades were defending. It was riddled by 
shot and its staff was splintered, but it kept on float- 
ing above boys in Blue and in Gray whose bayonets 
were interlocked in savage strife. Suddenly, caught 
in the wind, it streamed out, defiant in all its tattered 
beauty. Its shadow fell upon the face of the boy from 
Georgia beneath it. His heart gave a quick leap, for 
the star of Georgia was still "on the old banner." He 
saw "Ticonderoga and Yorktown, Monterey and Cha- 
pultepec fluttering in its folds as the radiant thing stood 
in the shriveling mouth of hell and waved and waved." 

Germany had cause to fear when the sons and the 
grandsons of the North and the South of '61 tugged 
at their leashes in 1917, eager to meet her sons on the 
fields of France. For the records of the Civil War 
reveal an American courage in battle that defies the 
standards of any other nation on the globe. The hour 
was at hand. The sinkings of the Lusitania and the 
Arabic \ the continued disregard of the rights of the 
United States as a neutral nation, the brutality of 



264 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

German warfare, and, above all, the sinister menace 
of the Prussian sword to all civilized Humanity, swept 
us as a Nation over the fine dividing line of parley- 
to the field of determined action. Old Glory was to 
be defended, vindicated, made a sign of victory. On 
April 6, 1917, President Wilson and the two Houses 
of Congress moved finally. The war was on for us, 
and the Stars and Stripes blossomed forth on staff, 
steeple and roof, and in the windows of a million 
American homes. England and France, and their Al- 
lies, caught the glow across the Atlantic. The follow- 
ing stanza from a poem by Bertrand Shadwell, which 
appeared in The London Chronicle, voices Great 
Britain's welcome to Old Glory after it appeared in 
force in Europe : 

"Here's to the Starry Banner! 
Let it shine on our masts and our towers! 
And here's to the great Republic 
That has welded her strength with ours! 
Her flag's in the streets of London; 
Her fleet's on the Northern Sea; 
And her sons stand firm in the trenches, 
To fight till the world is free." 

To those of us who find in Abraham Lincoln a liv- 
ing text-book of Americanism, a few words spoken by 
him at the close of his first Inaugural Address, came 
to mind in April, 1917, with a new and more potent 
meaning: "The mystic chords of memory, stretching 
from every battlefield and patriot grave to every heart 
and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell 
the chorus of the Union when again touched." 



XLVI 

The Flag at the Front in France 

ON April 9, 1917, Old Glory went into action 
for the first time on a battlefield of Europe. 
The news flashed across the ocean and sped West, 
North and South, throughout the United States. To 
Gunner William H. Clancy of the Royal Field Artil- 
lery of Canada, goes the honor of showing the Prus- 
sians the colors of the Stars and Stripes near the point 
of a bayonet. Clancy was born in Boston and lived 
for a time in Ipswich, Mass. He later made his home 
in Texas and counts himself a Texan. Here is his 
story, as told in a hospital: "I, William H. Clancy, 
a homeless person, put the good Old Glory on the 
battlefield at Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917. On Sun- 
day A. M., April 8, we heard through battery orders 
that the United States had declared war. I went to 
my kit bag and took out the Old Glory I always car- 
ried with me." 

The rest of Clancy's story deserves a paragraph by 
itself. "At 5.30 A. M., Monday, came orders to go 
over the top. I tied Old Glory to my bayonet and 
made the charge. One young fellow, from Newark, 
N. J., was struck by a shell and died in my arms, say- 
ing 'I am glad I gave my life for the freedom of the 
world.' So I let him lie, but, just before he died he 

265 



266 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

kissed my flag. 'Old Glory !' he said. And I told him 
'Yes, Old Glory, and new glory, too/ " 

Clancy was badly wounded at Vimy Ridge. His 
record in France tells us that he took part with the 
Canadians at Neuve Chapelle, in the assault on the 
Hohenzollern Redoubt, and in the battle of the Somme. 
He is for us the sole member of our long line of im- 
mortal color-bearers to perpetuate the glorious tradi- 
tion in the late war. Across the years, his hand reaches 
to the shadowy hands of the boys who carried Old 
Glory at Yorktown, Lundy's Lane, Chapul tepee, Get- 
tysburg and San Juan Hill. A tablet for William H. 
Clancy in our Hall of Flags. 

Before we take up the story of our Army in France 
as crusaders carrying a Flag with a new meaning for 
the Old World, we pause to record two events in which 
the Flag had a singularly beautiful part; the burial 
of Paul J. Osborne, of New Jersey, and the making of 
the Old Glory that waved over the Tuscania's dead. 
Osborne died on June 22, 1917, from the effects of 
wounds received while driving an ambulance. He was 
the first boy from the United States to die in the Great 
War under our Flag after our country entered as a 
belligerent. At the burial service, General Baratier 
of the French Army delivered a brief but poetically 
sympathetic address. One of his sentences stands out 
imbued with the sensitive pity and chivalry of France : 
"Sleep, soldier Osborne, wrapped in the Stars and 
Stripes within the shadow of the banners of France." 

On February 7, 1918, the British transport Tuscania, 
carrying American troops, was torpedoed off the Irish 
coast and one hundred and seventy men were lost. A 



THE FLAG IN FRANCE 267 

number of the bodies drifted to the shore of Scotland 
and were tenderly taken into the care of the villagers 
of Islay. It was decided to bury these boys from 
America with military honors. At dusk of the night 
before the ceremony, some one asked if an American 
Flag was at hand for unfurling over the graves. A 
Stars and Stripes could not be found. A Scotch 
mother had noticed the design of the Flag tattooed 
on the arm of one of the dead. She called in three 
other mothers, and the four worked with their needles 
through the night. As the gray dawn grew over the 
sea, they completed a Stars and Stripes. And so, in a 
driving rain, with the skirl of the pipers' funeral dirge 
and a volley of musketry, and with the whispering of 
the sea around the rocks, American boys were laid to 
rest in Scotland under the Old Glory of their hearts. 

Jessie McLellan, Mary Cunningham, Catherine Mc- 
Gregor and Mary Armour, the Stars and Stripes that 
you made during that February night of storm and 
sorrow, is now with us in America, to be cherished as 
a memorial of motherhood that sees in a homemade 
flag a symbol of love and of sacrifice. 

These Flag-incidents we have related were mere 
bits of flotsam in the wide tide of war. They were sig- 
nificant, as they were evidences of English and French 
realization of the true import of the arrival of the 
Stars and Stripes on the battleground. The United 
States was willing to suffer, to give of her own blood, 
that the principles typified in her Flag should not be 
a mockery at Berlin. Once with her face set to the 
East, she moved with splendid precision and determi- 
nation. On July 13, 1917, six hundred and eighty- 



268 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

seven thousand men were called to the colors. On 
October 27, 1917, the first American shot ever fired 
in war on the soil of Europe, sped from a battery to 
the German line. During the first week of November, 
1917, the first men of the United States to fall in ac- 
tion, Private James B. Gresham, of Evansville, Indi- 
ana, Private Merle D. Hay, of Glidden, Iowa, and Pri- 
vate Thomas F. Enright, of Pittsburgh, Pa., were 
buried in the soil of France. 

The historian knows that there will be readers of 
his book who will say that he gives undue emphasis 
to the sad elements of the Story of Old Glory. He 
holds that death under and for the Stars and Stripes 
is ever the Light of its high Adventure. We cannot 
extol too highly the courage of those who have gone 
out to fight and to die for the Americanism that shines 
blazoned on the Flag. It is our constant duty to give 
to our children the history of the Stars and Stripes as 
a book of intense patriotism. They must see in our 
Flag not mere bunting and stitches, but the heroism 
of thousands whose lives have been given freely that 
no blot could stain a stripe and no hand remove a star. 
That hour in November, 1917, when those three boys 
were lowered into French ground, was a mile-post in 
the march of the Nation's history. 

Beneath a gray sky, and with the rain falling stead- 
ily, three companies of infantry from the battalion 
to which the three had belonged, American artillery 
detachments, and a number of French infantry, formed 
a hollow square round the graves which had been dug 
in ground already sown thick with the dead of Great 
Britain and France. At the head of each grave flut- 



THE FLAG IN FRANCE 269 

tered a small silk Old Glory. As the caskets wrapped 
in the Stars and Stripes were brought to the graves, a 
bugler blew taps and the batteries at the front fired 
minute-guns, not mere salutes but discharges that sent 
shells into the Prussian lines, uttering defiance. 

A French general stepped forward, looked at each 
of the three Flag-draped coffins, turned and said, "We 
of France ask that the mortal remains of these young 
men be left with us forever. We will inscribe on their 
tombs, 'Here lie the first soldiers of the Republic of 
the United States to fall upon the soil of France in 
the cause of justice and liberty.' Private Enright, 
Private Gresham, Private Hay, in the name of France 
I thank you. May God receive your souls. Farewell !" 

A volley of seventy-fives crashed the last word of 
farewell through the gray, rain-soaked air. Then 
American boys, with tears trickling down their faces, 
lowered their dead comrades and covered them over 
with the soil for which they had fought and died. 

Little by little the great news we here in the United 
States were looking for, began to come to us; at first 
in brief dispatches that stirred the heart of the Nation, 
laconic sentences telling of the endurance and courage 
of our men under fire. In March and April, 1918, 
France officially recognized these displays of heroism 
by decorating American soldiers "for bravery in ac- 
tion." The 104th United States Infantry received 
one hundred and twenty-two war medals and became 
famous as the first American regiment to be decorated 
by any foreign government for heroic conduct under 
fire. A photograph taken at the time pictures the 
ceremony of pinning-on the medals. In the back- 



270 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

ground are lines of our troops, and at the right stands 
the Color-Guard with the Stars and Stripes. It is not 
a rent and bullet-pierced Old Glory. It hangs from 
its staff in a breathless air, untorn, resplendent. Much 
as we regret the passing of the day when the Flag 
went with its defenders right into the furnace of battle, 
to suffer and even to be destroyed with them, we ac- 
cept the presence of Old Glory behind the lines of its 
supporters in action, calling to them and urging them 
onward. They feel it with them, in their hearts and 
in their minds' vision, the soul of America inspiriting 
to victory. 

On Bastille Day, July 14, 1918, a detachment of 
United States soldiers paraded with their French, 
British and Belgian comrades, in Paris. Here is what 
an American newspaper correspondent wrote as they 
went by, "Next came our Americans. They marched 
like men who have had their baptism of fire, men who 
have been tried and were not found wanting. I felt 
the 'Star Spangled Banner' in my right shoulder-blade, 
'Dixie' in my left, and 'America' all up and down my 
backbone. 

"Such stern-set faces. Not a man was smiling, not 
a man looked to right or left. The mouths were level 
as the edge of a ruler. If ever I saw the autograph 
of an inflexible determination, it was written in these 
firm and resolute countenances of men with a charge 
to keep, a trust to which they will be true. 

"They showed their training. These were not 
amateurs. They were men of a seasoned hardihood. 
They were men who had gone over the top and seen 
their pals fall beside them, and made good against 



THE FLAG IN FRANCE 271 

the boche. They did not carry bayonets. But they 
looked preeminently businesslike, undecorative and 
solidly irresistible. 

"Not a hint of the screaming eagle was here, not a 
trace of the 'we'11-show-you' attitude, not a sign of 
anything but cool and clear decision, of preeminent 
physical fitness, of the health of men who took care 
of themselves in cities, if they did not come from the 
windward side of the continent. 

"Oregon shouldered the Dakotas, New Mexico and 
Idaho marched cheek by jowl, and man after man 
surely pinches himself now and then to see if he will 
not suddenly wake in Maine or Pennsylvania or South- 
ern California." 

Philip Gibbs, the prince of correspondents, found 
in Old Glory the signal of defeat for Germany. This is 
what he saw early in 1918 through his British eyes: 
"There are now men on the road of a new race who 
were not in the war when it began, but are now of 
our side, men who came in their hundreds of thou- 
sands." 

How finely he introduces Old Glory as we read on : 
"I saw outside a French cottage the answer to the great 
challenge which the enemy has now flung down. A 
flag was hanging up outside the garden gate and a 
sentry guarded it. It was the flag of the Stars and 
Stripes outside an American headquarters. If we hold 
the enemy for the next few months, the American 
armies in France will so tip the wheel of fortune that 
never again will the enemy have the initiative on the 
western front. With this great aid to French and 
British arms, the strength and spirit of the Ger- 



272 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

man war machine will be sapped and shattered. 

"The little flag outside the cottage which I passed 
yesterday was a symbol of the great power that is 
behind us, and further on there were living witnesses 
of the American army that is growing and spreading 
with a giant stride, They are splendid to see, these 
men." 

From Paris, on July 17, 1918, flashed a message 
that brought the United States to its feet cheering. 
An American general in command of American forces 
south of the Marne received word from the French 
commander to the effect that, although he and his 
troops had been forced back by German assaults, there 
was no need of a counter-attack and it might be ad- 
visable to give the Americans an hour's rest. This 
was the response: "We regret being unable on this 
occasion to follow the counsels of our masters, the 
French, but the American flag had been forced to re- 
tire. This is unendurable, and none of our soldiers 
would understand their not being asked to do whatever 
is necessary to reestablish a situation which is humili- 
ating to us and unacceptable to our country's honor. 
We are going to counter-attack." 

A Paris paper, Matin^ made this terse but satisfac- 
tory comment : "The Americans launched their coun- 
ter-attack and the lost ground was soon recovered, 
with an additional half mile taken from the Germans 
for good measure." 

We have anticipated history a little, for the rea- 
son that we wished to isolate the episode of the Flag 
that would not retire, before entering upon the story 
of the dramatic last days of the war. In the opening 



THE FLAG IN FRANCE 273 

week of June, 1918, the German machine of men and 
guns was rolling on towards Paris. Steadily, with the 
cruel surety of a moving wedge of iron, it crept on- 
ward. On June 4, American and French troops, fight- 
ing side by side, flung themselves at the apex and the 
sides of the wide wedge. It slowed up, was splintered 
in places. On June 6, at Chateau-Thierry, of im- 
mortal memory, with the United States Marines fight- 
ing on ahead like demons, the Allied Divisions halted 
the advance, stopped in its tracks. On June 11, those 
same Marines, determined on adding a new word to 
their flag, to make a trio with Tripoli and Mexico, 
smashed through the machine-gun fire in Belleau Wood 
and captured the position at the point of the bayonet. 

Does any one imagine that Paris received the news 
of Chateau-Thierry in stoical calm? John Scott, an 
American who was in the city at the time, answers the 
question. "In Paris," he says, "there was a little 
playlet being given for war relief work. In it a small 
French girl was tossing the Star Spangled Banner. I 
saw the show one night after I first went to Europe. 
The American air was applauded warmly when the 
child had finished." 

We turn over the page of Mr. Scott's story and go 
on with him. "I was in Paris the night after the day 
on which it was announced American troops had 
hurled back Hun thousands when they appeared to be 
marching right down the road to French homes. I 
want to tell you the exhibition of gratitude and en- 
thusiasm shown for the American flag and the Amer- 
ican national air was heartrending. I walked down 
to the theatre where this benefit play was being staged. 



274 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

The play proceeded until the baby came out and started 
to lisp the words of The Star Spangled Banner.' 

"There was instant chaos. There was wild cheering 
and roars of applause. There were tears and smiles 
and yells. Hats went into the air and old women 
cried and wrung their hands. It was a sight worth 
while. France had seen the American soldier kill the 
hungry wolf at the doorstep, and she was thankful." 

Gunner Clancy, you were right in what you said at 
Vimy Ridge. There is now "new glory" for Old 
Glory, the glory of a noble sacrifice that a sister tri- 
color may float free from the black shadow of the 
Prussian ensign. 

The end of the war came dimly into sight when, 
on September 12, 1918, the American First Army with 
shot and steel ironed out flat the St. Mihiel salient in 
twenty-seven hours, taking fifteen thousand prisoners 
and reducing the line of battle by twenty miles. The 
end was vividly within range of vision when Old Glory 
sent forward its eager thousands to rip open the Hin- 
denburg line on September 29, and then on again, on 
October 3, into the mazes of the Argonne Forest to the 
Meuse, and up to the Kriemhilde line. On November 
7, Sedan fell into the grip of the regiments in khaki, 
and Germany threw up her hands in dismay. On 
November 8, German envoys entered the French lines 
and conferred with Marshal Foch, requesting an armis- 
tice. The Kaiser had learned that the United States 
has a long arm and a glove of steel on her good right 
hand. 

It is impossible in this book, to give credit to any 
one of the valiant divisions that fought for Old Glory 




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THE FLAG IN FRANCE 275 

in France. Regimental and Divisional histories to 
come, will pay honor where it is due and in full 
measure. We are following the story of Old Glory 
and clinging closely to historic episodes in the chronicle. 
Our work would have been complicated if the Stars and 
Stripes had actually gone into action in France, for 
then we should have been face to face with a real test, 
that of selecting and reproducing in words a number 
of the more dramatic scenes in which the Flag would 
have borne a part. 

On November 16, 1918, Marshal Foch addressed a 
message to the Allied armies. It closed with these 
words, "Be proud. You have adorned your flags with 
immortal glory. Posterity preserves for you its rec- 
ognition." 

Old Glory came forth vividly as a sign of libera- 
tion even before the armistice was signed. A fore- 
gleam of what was to happen in history shone in Paris 
when, on December 24, 1917, the Stars and Stripes 
flew beside the Tricolor on the Strasburg monument 
in the Place Concorde. On July 24, 1918, the event 
thus foretold took place, as American troops in Al- 
sace-Lorraine held a grand review in which the Stars 
and Stripes was carried for the first time on soil that 
had been for a while German. Color-Sergeant Guy M. 
Nunemacher, of Elmira, N. Y., claims the honor of 
holding Old Glory aloft on that day. 

The real significance of the Flag in Europe was 
revealed in the early hours of occupation of Prussian 
dominated land, under the terms of the armistice. A 
former German soldier, now an American citizen, said 
in 1917, "As a general thing, flags meant in Germany 



276 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

only so much bunting. The regimental colors were our 
highest conception of a flag because, whether unfurled 
or wrapped, we had always to give them the same 
salute as that accorded to his Majesty himself. In 
other words, the flag represented a personality instead 
of being an emblem of noble ideals." 

After reading that clear statement, it is easy to 
comprehend the joy with which Old Glory was greeted 
in the liberated towns of France, Belgium, and even 
of Austria and Bulgaria. When Bulgaria withdrew 
from the war, a letter was sent from a man with the 
Bulgarian army to friends in this country. Here is a 
part of it: "Thousands of Bulgarian soldiers laid 
down their arms with delight. I know forty of them 
who had been students in the American Presbyterian 
Agricultural College outside Salonica. Always from 
the flagstaff of the school floated the Stars and Stripes. 
Under that flag they learned to read and write both 
the Bulgarian and the English languages. Not one 
of those boys could have fired on the American flag." 

Now for the advance to the Rhine. On November. 
11, 1918, Verdun came into its own. The old town 
was in a frenzy. On that day, for the first time in 
many months, no shells fell within the walls. The 
Prussian guns were silenced. "A large American flag 
was carried by the men of the New England Division, 
while the French buglers bore the Tricolor of France," 
was the Associated Press story in a nutshell. 

Our searchlight now swings to Arras. The Bishop 
of Arras, in the United States during that wonderful 
November, said to Cardinal Gibbons, "Arras is no 
longer habitable, and three hundred villages in my 



THE FLAG IN FRANCE 277 

diocese have been razed to the ground until all the 
land resembles a desert. But the nuns of the Carmelite 
order are staying at their post to make the flag that 
will be given to the regiment from Philadelphia," the 
315th, because, as the nuns said, "it was in Philadel- 
phia that freedom was reborn." 

The following rather lengthy but interpretative ac- 
count of Old Glory in the wasted lands, is taken ver- 
batim from an American newspaper: "November 19, 
1918. The American soldiers have seen their flag 
waving in equal love with that of brave France and of 
doughty Belgium. Ask any doughboy, from New 
York or San Francisco, what thing he has seen sticks 
in his mind. He will tell you it was the homemade 
American flags. 

"Two months and a little more ago came word to 
those held under the Prussian bayonet that Americans 
were fighting their way toward them. They began to 
make American flags against the great day. These 
flags were made secretly, where prying Hun eyes could 
not see. From school books they got the design which 
they worked on. When the great day came, by the 
side of the French flags in French towns and the Bel- 
gian flag in Belgian towns, flew the homemade Stars 
and Stripes. 

"Flown from the housetops and churches in towns 
and villages in Northern France and Southern Bel- 
gium, they seemed most lovely emblems, for they told 
the story of America, why she went to war. They told 
that our boys had won that for which they came to 
France to fight. They told that those boys had won 
respect and admiration ; aye, more, had won love. 



278 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

"To me those homemade flags meant more than em- 
pires gained or billions paid. They meant that the 
people who made them could not celebrate their day 
of rejoicing without the Stars and Stripes. 

"Who can explain the phenomenon of those home- 
made flags ? What spirit could have prompted the 
women of half a hundred towns to do the same thing 
in the same way? These women had no means of 
communicating. The display could not have been 
planned. But to-day in many towns in Belgium and 
France behind our lines those little flags are flying. I 
saw them in Montmedy and in Virton. I saw them 
in Longuyon and in Etain. And I saw them in Con- 
flans. What could they represent but love of Amer- 
ica?" 

Constantine, while on a campaign in the Rhine 
country, had a vision of a cross in the heavens. Then 
and there, according to the old legend, he determined 
to fight under the new sign and for it, since it revealed 
to him the conquest of light over darkness. 

The United States came to the Rhine in the twen- 
tieth century under its glorious sign, the Stars and 
Stripes, a symbol set against the blue sky for people 
seeking the flame of true leadership under justice and 
a divine compassion. 




AN OLD GLORY WITH ELEVEN SIX-POINTED STARS AND 

SEVEN STRIPES, MADE IN SECRET BY THE 

FRENCHWOMEN OF METZ. 



XLVII 

Concord Among the Tricolors 

IN Westminster Abbey, London, on Sunday, Feb- 
ruary 9, 1919, Englishmen and Americans met in 
a memorial service, an impressive tribute to Theodore 
Roosevelt. At the close of the service the choir sang 
"How Firm a Foundation" and "The Battle Hymn of 
the Republic." Then, as the archdeacon and the clergy 
left the Abbey in solemn procession, the western sun- 
light poured through the western windows and the 
organ burst forth with "The Star Spangled Banner." 

There was a mystical benediction in that flood of 
western light entering Great Britain's Holy of Holies 
as the strains of our national anthem filled the great 
nave. England and the United States have sealed their 
brotherhood, with France as the third hand clasped, in 
the deaths of their sons in a common cause. In their 
keeping is the security of the world's happiness. The 
three great Tricolors are in harmony. 

On May 12, 1918, an Englishman, John Truscott, 
who lives twenty-eight miles from London, went up 
to the city and was granted a vision. He stood beneath 
"Big Ben," the tall clock tower of the Houses of 
Parliament, near the Abbey, with the still taller Vic- 
toria Tower and its flagstaff near by. From the staff 
two great flags were flying side by side. 

"No need to say what they were," he wrote. "As 

279 



280 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

I watched, the Union Jack momentarily drooped and 
clung around the mast. Then the Stars and Stripes, 
like a living thing, flew out bravely its utmost. The 
other, as one aroused, flew out also its very fullest. 
The two together then streamed out in the rising breeze, 
suggestive of the times and circumstances and emblem- 
atically defying the reactionary forces of the world." 

In the last sentences of his letter, Mr. Truscott 
reaches the heart of the Anglo-American union. "Let 
no one measure our joy by the volume of the shouting, 
the number of the flags or the frequency of the grasp- 
ing hands of brotherly greeting. These are but ripples 
upon a wide, deep, rapid stream of international broth- 
erhood." 

We cross the channel. Georges Clemenceau, Pre- 
mier of the French Republic, and a little six-year old 
girl, fatherless through the fate of war, speak for 
France. 

Clemenceau said, on February 9, 1919, "The friend- 
ship between our peoples which has subsisted for a 
century and a half is a very beautiful thing. The 
like of it has never existed for the same length of 
time between any other two peoples. This cordiality, 
cemented by our contact during the war, must endure 
in closer measure hereafter. To this end our minds 
must meet." 

The little girl whose father lies beneath the sward 
near the Marne, was given a tiny Stars and Stripes in 
July, 1917. Greater is she than the Premier of France 
when she says, "I begged my little mother to put the 
little flag in a locket and to hang it around my neck. 
And now I have the flag always with me." 



XLVIII 

Patriotism and the Flag 

SIR THOMAS BROWNE, one of England's mas- 
ters of prose, on a night of a decade near the 
middle of the seventeenth century, had been writing 
in his study at Norwich. "The declining constella- 
tions warned him to lay down his pen." Before he 
laid aside his manuscript for the night he finished a 
peculiarly beautiful page that afterwards evoked the 
praise of Coleridge. On that page occur the words, 
"The huntsmen are up in America." 

Sir Thomas Browne was in error in that statement, 
for midnight at Norwich means sundown on our At- 
lantic coast. The real interest for us lies in an infer- 
ence. We believe that Sir Thomas turned, looked out 
through a north window and saw the mighty galaxy 
that glittered in the Arctic heavens. If so, he must 
have seen what we see even in this later time — for 
the stars are eternal by man's hourglass — the North 
Star, Polaris, and its attendant constellations, the Great 
Bear and the Little Bear, known to us as the Great 
Dipper and the Little Dipper. These two groups of 
stars, with the North Star, were the guides for mari- 
ners on the North Atlantic. Columbus sailed by them, 
and the Cabots, Verazzano, Hudson, Cartier, Cham- 
plain, Frobisher, Davis, the Pilgrims, all that wonder- 

281 



282 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

ful company of intrepid souls kept constant watch by 
night on these unerring friends, when sleet and snow, 
mist and rain, did not blot out their mighty chart. 
Turn to the Second Act of Othello and read these 
magnificent lines in the First Scene: 

"The wind-shaked surge, with high and monstrous mane, 
Seems to cast water on the burning bear, 
And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole. ,, 

To the Englishmen of the seventeenth century the 
Northern heavens at night were a clock of the hours 
and a guide for the wide sea-roads. They readily sug- 
gested far adventure and — America. We have spoken, 
in another chapter, of the constellation Cygnus, the 
Northern Cross. When the Mayflower dropped 
anchor at Plymouth in December, 1620, the Cross of 
Calvary stood upright before the Pilgrims on the bleak 
hills. They could not see what the telescope has re- 
vealed to us, the nebula of the United States in North 
America, held guarded within the arms of that Cross. 
Yet the United States, even the stars of its glorious 
Flag, were before them, hidden in the blue-black deeps 
of the great Mystery of the years, awaiting the proper 
hour of revelation. 

Forty years before the Pilgrims crossed the ocean, 
Voltaire said, in one of his essays — we give Florio's 
translation — "Our world hath of late discovered an- 
other, no less large, fully-peopled, all things yielding 
and mighty in strength, than ours ; nevertheless so new 
and infantine that he is yet to learn his ABC. This 
late world shall but come to light when ours shall fall 
into darkness." Europe did "fall into darkness" in 



PATRIOTISM AND THE FLAG 283 

August, 1914. The United States did "come to light," 
a country accepting the cross of supreme sacrifice. Sir 
Thomas Browne, had he come as a shadow into his 
old study at Norwich, in April, 1917, could have writ- 
ten once more, "The huntsmen are up in America." 

In a vague way, the Old World turned to the New 
many years ago, in the hope that here was to be found 
the lost Atlantis, the country where Utopia could be 
made a reality. America was to be the land of the 
perfect patriotism, Voltaire's world "come to light." 
To be direct, do we as a People know what patriotism 
is? Have three centuries and more of colonizing, 
town-building and developing, produced a nation that 
is one under its Flag? We cannot fulfil the hopes 
of the poets and the prophets of old Europe until we 
are one Unit, a People that reflects in itself the com- 
plete harmony of its one recognized symbol, the Stars 
and Stripes. And it is our duty, more so to-day than 
ever before in our history, to come together in States 
shoulder-to-shoulder in a definite, common Purpose for 
the good of the World. In the stars resides the em- 
blem of our nationality. Each constellation in the 
firmament is a union of distinctly individual members; 
but the great group defies Time in its fixed cohesion. 
"The morning stars sang together," said the writer of 
the Book of Job, and in that superb phrase is to be 
found the very soul of the greater America to come, 
that we believe is just ahead of us, within the span 
of the living generation of men and women. 

To achieve this splendid unity, we must realize pa- 
triotism in our national life. What is patriotism? Ask 
an American of to-day to tell you what patriotism is. 



284 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

He is apt to give you a verbose explanation of a devo- 
tion too frequently colored by waving flags and punc- 
tuated with cheers. His country is "big," "the first 
in the world," "the refuge of the oppressed races 
of effete Europe," "the mighty melting-pot of nation- 
alities," "the saviour of Europe." Would that we had 
a more devout interpretation of America. 

We find in a poem in French, by Emile Cammaerts, 
a Belgian poet, a singularly beautiful presentation of 
the passion of true patriotism. The following is a 
fairly accurate translation: 

"It is the accent of a voice, 
The sound of a distant bell, 
A gleam in the woods, 
A ray of sunlight on the plain. 
It is a certain home beneath a certain sky, 
And the measured tread of one on the river-bank. 
It is a woman on her knees before a chapel 
By the road where many tapers burn. 
It is the fragrance of the grass around the pools, 
And the scent of the dust in the road. 
It is the flash of a glance, . . . 
A vision of the Past that swiftly fades. 
It is all that one cannot tell, 
And all that one feels ; 
All that he can express only in song." 

How closely that fine, sensitive creed of love of na- 
tive-land is echoed in the following, taken from a 
French textbook, "La Patrie," "Do you know what 
the motherland is*? It is the house where your mother 
has carried you in her arms. It is the lawn on which 
you play your joyous games. It is the school where 
you receive your first instruction. It is the town hall 
where floats the flag of France. It is the cemetery 



PATRIOTISM AND THE FLAG 285 

where your ancestors rest. It is the clock which you 
see again with a new joy on each return to the village. 
It is the fields which bear the traces of the labor of your 
fathers. It is the hills, the mountains, which you have 
so many times climbed." 

Young Paul Lintier wrote, in his "My '75," at the 
time of the retreat of the French before the battle of 
the Marne, "During the days of defeat we had just 
been passing through, what a picture of our country had 
been revealed to us ! An army immediately victorious 
cannot plumb the depth of patriotism. One must have 
fought, have suffered and have feared — even if only 
for a moment — to lose her, in order to understand what 
one's country really means. She is the whole joy of 
existence, the embodiment of all our pleasures visible 
and invisible, and the focus of all our hopes. She alone 
makes life worth living. All this united and person- 
ified in a single suffering being, begotten by the will of 
millions of individuals — that is France.'' 

Edward Hutton, in his introduction to "England of 
My Heart," says, "England is not merely what we see 
and are. It is all the past and all the future. It is 
inheritance, the fields we have always ploughed, the 
landscape and the sea, the tongue we speak, the verse 
we know by heart, all we hope for, all we love and ven- 
erate, under God. And there abides a sense of old 
times gone, of ancient law, of friendship, of religious 
benediction." 

We have been told that we, as a Nation, lack historic 
background, that, having little reverence for our Past, 
we are wanting in the first principles of patriotism. Is 
it that our country is so vast, that we have no intelli- 



286 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

gent patriotism? Robert Herrick, in his "The World 
Decision," seems to imply this condition as a determin- 
ing force when he says, "This primal love of the earth 
that has borne you and your ancestors seems to me in- 
finitely stronger, more passionate with the European 
than with the American. We roam; our frontiers are 
still horizons." Yes, and New Orleans and San Fran- 
cisco and Seattle are almost like cities under skies that 
do not bend over us on the Atlantic coast. Yes, and 
we have to face and solve the eternal problem of an 
ever flowing tide of immigrants pouring in and around 
the towers of our old establishment, with faces that 
see no shapes of our Past. They must be made to real- 
ize America, or their mingling with us to create a new 
People will give us no Future grounded in our Past. 
We need a patriotism based in a definite, sympathetic, 
general knowledge of our History. That the United 
States is a Purpose for Good; that, despite failures 
and bafflings, she is at soul a Democracy with a far- 
flung vision; we and those whom we accept to share 
our citizenship, must realize and, realizing, build ever 
with better beams and bricks. 

While reading Professor Ferguson's "Greek Impe- 
rialism," we came upon a passage that threw light not 
only on the history of Greece but on our own as well. 
Greek history teems with the rivalries and the wars 
of Athens, Sparta and Thebes. National unity was 
ever balked by state jealousies. Ferguson says, "Mem- 
ories of great actions done in olden times were pre- 
served by monuments of bronze and marble, and re- 
vived annually by appropriate ceremonies. Legend 
and fact, blended in an edifying tradition, — the repos- 



PATRIOTISM AND THE FLAG 287 

itory of the yearnings and ideals of dead generations, — 
inspired the living to bear themselves worthily in all 
national crises. 'Love thou thy land with love far- 
brought from out the storied past,' was an admonition 
of which Greek cities of the classic epoch stood in 
little need. The mischief was that the land which 
they loved was not all Greece, but merely the territory 
of a single state/' 

That last sentence has in it the explanation of the 
real weakness of our sense of patriotism. We do not 
think in terms of the nation, but in terms of the state, 
even of the city. Years ago Ralph Waldo Emerson 
confessed another truth, that Americans worship for- 
eign traditions and not their own. He said, "Where 
the heart is, there the muses, there the gods sojourn, 
and not in any geography of fame. Massachusetts, 
Connecticut River, Boston Bay you think paltry places, 
and the ear loves the names of foreign and classical 
topography. But here we are; and, if we will tarry 
a little, we may come to learn that here is best." 

"Here" is best. When a man can wander through 
his native village and read, in its landmarks, its early 
houses and its graves, the chapter-headings of a ro- 
mance of devotion and fortitude, he is in accord with 
the first pages of his country's history. There are 
Westminster Abbeys in every century-old town in the 
United States. It is our duty as patriots who have 
keys to these shrines, to open the doors to those who 
come to us seeking citizenship. Give these men who 
are to be our brothers a share in our heritages of na- 
tional inspiration. From the hill of vision over a small 
area of history, that of the city or the town, lead them 



288 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

to heights where broaden on the view the reaches of 
the State and the vistas of the Nation. 

We are not going to have a united Nation, passion- 
ately devoted to its ideals, until we have a nation-wide 
realization of the meaning of the struggles, the tears, 
the prayers, the sacrifices, the devotion of the men and 
women who have made the United States. 

On the night of July l, 1913, we stood on a hill at 
Gettysburg overlooking the encampment of veterans. 
A faint star hung in the west and we heard the clear 
tones of a bugle distant across the fields, poured out 
like an echo of long ago. Then came darkness and 
with it the misty columns of regiments of boys with 
tattered Old Glories. They were the shapes of the 
immortal lads who gave all that the things for which 
the Flag was a symbol might endure. Hilaire Belloc, 
in one of his brief essays, voices his feeling of awe when 
he endeavors to realize the Past in the Present. At the 
close of this essay is a paragraph that condenses the 
whole of his thought into a few sentences. We change 
but two words that refer to localities famous in the 
story of the conflict at Waterloo, and, by substituting 
the names of two hills that were crucial at Gettysburg, 
have the following: — Nearly "all those boys who held 
the line of the low ridge or rather swell of land from 
Culp's Hill to Little Round Top have utterly gone. 
More than dust goes, more than wind goes; they will 
never be seen again. Their voices will never be heard 
. . . they are not. But what is the mere soil of the 
field without them? What meaning has it save for 
their presence?" 

To-day we ask again, with the thought of our heroic 



PATRIOTISM AND THE FLAG 289 

dead in France, "What meaning has it save for their 
presence?" Apply that sentence to the Stars and 
Stripes, under which they gathered here to prepare 
themselves for their mighty crusade, under which they 
crossed the Atlantic, and for which they fought and 
died. "What meaning has it save for their presence ?" 
They made the United States a "land of light" for a 
Europe in "darkness." The Italian poet-aviator D'An- 
nunzio, wrote in 1917, "The stars in the great flag of 
your Republic are our constellation of hope, even as 
the Pleiades — sign of guidance to the mariners — are, 
and appear to us as a constellation of salvation." Those 
stars have glittered along the highways of France, have 
been reflected in the waters of the Rhine, have glowed 
in the sunlight on the roads of Germany. And every- 
where they have carried the story of a Nation resolute 
in its voyaging by the Pole Star of its Destiny, the 
Good of the World. Are we to forget them, the boys 
who suffered and died for that Flag? 

Old Glory must fly over every schoolhouse between 
the two oceans. But it must fly with a new and far 
deeper meaning. No flag ever devised by man has so 
clearly expressed the ideals of true democracy in its 
design. No flag carries in its own picture so much of 
national history. All that we have been as a Nation, 
and all that we hope to be, are embodied in the Stars 
and Stripes. Our feet are on the earth, and the stripes 
may well represent that basis of solid foundation; but 
our dream of the Future is in the firmament. Our stars 
are for us an omen of years to come. They beckon us 
upward to a divine fulfillment of the stupendous Truth 
of our meaning and our mission in the world's history. 



2QO THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

They repeat what the lives of great men have told us, 
what they have often toiled for, not knowing the signif- 
icance of their tasks, — the presence among men of the 
Perfect State won only through human endeavor and 
human sacrifice. In time we, as a People, will perceive 
the beauty of the reality of our forty-eight stars achiev- 
ing, merging into, concord through a passionate devo- 
tion to an Ideal not for self but for the Commonwealth. 

At the side of the road stands a country schoolhouse. 
Over it floats Old Glory. In the little room within, 
a woman is giving her boys and girls the story of an ad- 
venture in our History. There, in that plain room, is 
the source of our real patriotism. She is aware of the 
privilege of her calling. She is lifting that lesson of a 
page up to a region of romance. She tells her chil- 
dren a story; and we listen at the door. "A French boy 
lay dying on the field of the Marne. Another boy, at 
his side, heard him whisper, Turn me over, that my 
heart may beat against that of my mother.' 'Your 
mother!' said his kneeling comrade in surprise. £ Yes. 
France,' answered the dying poilu. 

She brings that little story of a lonely death on a 
remote battlefield home into her quiet schoolroom, with 
the shadow of the fluttering Stars and Stripes outside 
on the snow. The page on Valley Forge, open before 
her on her desk, begins to glow. She transmits the 
glow to her boys and girls. They see the dying men 
in the huts. They realize that here in the United 
States, men and boys have died that the heart of the 
Nation might beat on in Life. The future of the Flag, 
as a faithful symbol of the United States, is at home 
in such schoolrooms of the Republic, the true commun- 



PATRIOTISM AND THE FLAG 291 

ity centers, the altars where the flame of Nationality 
must never flicker or fade. 

If we are to lower Old Glory from its poles above 
public buildings, and remove it from the windows of 
our homes, let us at least keep it flying over every 
schoolhouse in the land. Its Story is our Story. With 
us it has grown from formless weakness to definite 
strength. It has been, literally, the guiding-star of our 
pioneers, explorers, humanitarians and soldiers. It has 
interwoven its threads into the texture of every chapter 
of our national Romance. No man or child can com- 
prehend the majesty of the History of the United 
States, who is ignorant of the Story of Old Glory. 



XLIX 

Old Glory and the Schoolhouse 

WE have given a picture of Old Glory flying over a 
country schoolhouse. We have suggested a way 
in which an episode in the Flag's history, the winter at 
Valley Forge, may be used to illustrate a lesson given 
over to the period of the American Revolution of 1777- 
1778. This method of connecting the Flag, in the 
minds of scholars, with important events in our nation- 
al story, can be employed all along the route from 1775 
to the present time. Even the Colonial flags of the 
early months of the Revolution have an evident mean- 
ing, the desire for expression of a freedom greater than 
the union with Great Britain permitted. This feeling 
was typified in the Pine Tree, Rattlesnake, Palmetto, 
Beaver, Anchor, and other Colonial ensigns. They 
were positive indices of a drift of opinion. The chap- 
ter on The Forerunners of the Stars and Stripes may 
be read in classrooms in connection with the study of 
the periods of unrest and of actual outbreak in armed 
resistance. This chapter also amplifies the story of the 
siege of Boston as given in school histories of the 
United States. 

The chapters on the Grand Union Flag and the 
Stars and Stripes, that follow, ending with chapter 18, 

292 



OLD GLORY AND SCHOOLHOUSE 293 

can be used at the discretion of the teacher, as material 
illustrating the entire period of the Revolution. 

Possibly the following set of Flag-Topics, covering 
the whole range of the history of Old Glory, will be 
of value as hints at methods of emphasizing the Flag 
and its meaning: — 

A. Describe three of the Colonial flags, and tell how 
each was a symbol of the Colony it represents. 

B. Write a short paper on the Grand Union Flag, 
showing in what way it was an emblem both of Great 
Britain and the Colonies. 

C. Topic for discussion: Is there sufficient evidence 
to warrant the claim that Betsy Ross made a Stars and 
Stripes before the year 1777? 

D. Topic for discussion: Do Benjamin Franklin's 
interests and activities, before and during the Revolu- 
tion, support the claim that he may have designed, or 
was one of the creators of, the Stars and Stripes. 

E. Prepare a diagram of the campaign in New York 
during the latter half of the year 1777, showing forts 
and ^making clear the importance of Fort Stanwix. 
Emphasize the episode of the Old Glory of Stanwix as 
a lesson in patriotism. 

F. Require a short essay or paper on Paul Jones and 
his connection with the Stars and Stripes. Consult 
chapters 11, 12, 13 and 16. 

G. Bring out vividly, in a theme, the meaning of 
Valley Forge. Describe the scene when the alliance 
with France was announced to the Continental Army. 
Tell of the different nationalities represented in the 
camp, and show in what respect Valley Forge was a 
type of the United States to come. 



294 THE DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

H. Compare the mode of acquisition of the old 
Northwest Territory by George Rogers Clark with 
methods revealed in later additions to the area of the 
United States, and explain the part the Flag had in 
each. See chapters 15, 20, 21, 23 and 44. 

I. Write a brief paper showing in what way the 
three Tricolors were involved in the causes of the War 
of 1812. Consult chapter 24. 

J. Give a five-minute talk on the Stars and Stripes 
in exploration and humane work. Consult chapters 
19, 21, 23, 31, 32, 34, 40 and 44. 

K. On Flag-Day, June 14, emphasize the story of 
Old Glory over a log schoolhouse. See chapter 25. 
For supplementary reading, chapters 18 and 41 are 
suggested. Of course, chapters 6, 28, for the "Star 
Spangled Banner," 29 and 30 cannot be overlooked 
on this day. 

Every Northern State represented in the dramatic 
episodes of the color-bearers, chapter 38, can have its 
individual story read in its schools on the day that is 
the anniversary of the battle in which the incident oc- 
curred, on Flag-Day or on Memorial Day. 

The significance of the Stars and Stripes in Europe 
during the late war, is covered in the closing pages of 
this history. Teachers will find in chapters 45, 46 
and 47, a concise presentation of this most important 
phase of the Story of Old Glory. 

The chapter on Patriotism and the Flag was written 
with the community in view, although it gives material 
that should be of decided value in the schoolroom, in 
teaching loyalty to the country. We suggest that the 
quotations from French and English authors be read on 



OLD GLORY AND SCHOOLHOUSE 295 

Flag-Day, to give scholars a conception of certain Eu- 
ropean standards of pure patriotism. The poem by 
Cammaerts is perhaps too subtle for immediate com- 
prehension by the average boy or girl ; but it is so deli- 
cate a revelation of love of home-land, that it should 
be read thoughtfully and commented upon. It might 
be well to invite, not require, the members of a class 
to contribute original papers on patriotism, as a part 
of Flag-Day exercises. The chapter on the opening 
of the Civil War, 35, will furnish material for a score 
of essays. 

By applying one's power of invention, many of the 
pages of The Dramatic Story of Old Glory can be 
adapted to community work. We leave it to the teach- 
er and the community-leader, to devise programs for 
use in making Flag-Day, and other commemorative 
days, effective as dates on which men, women and 
children will come into the presence of our great Past 
made visible in Old Glory, our historic and enduring 
symbol. 

There is much to do, and little has been done, along 
the road of creating a patriotism that is conscious of 
the dignity of the Republic and enlisted in the service 
of the Commonwealth. If this book has blazed a way, 
with the Stars and Stripes leading as a torch of fire, 
then it has served a lordly purpose. The twelve tribes 
of Israel followed a cloud of smoke by day and a pillar 
of fire by night. They had need of a sign and a guide. 
We, a people of a hundred tribes, require a flame going 
on before us. We shall have, in Old Glory, the perfect 
leader when we comprehend its rich meaning as an 
interpreter, a symbol of our beginnings, our develop- 



296 THE* DRAMATIC STORY OF OLD GLORY 

ment and our present state as a Nation. Display the 
Flag over schoolhouses and civic buildings. In your 
own home, hang it over the hearth, that its memories, 
its dreams, its vision of the Future, may be guests of 
your own thought. 



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